Court drops all charges against a Thai woman in a 2015 bombing at a Bangkok shrine that killed 20

Thai woman acquitted in 2015 Bangkok bombing case due to lack of evidence, while Uyghur suspects face ongoing trial.

A court in Thailand on Thursday (November 7, 2024) acquitted a Thai woman who had been charged with involvement in a 2015 bombing at a shrine in Bangkok that killed 20 people and injured 120.

Wanna Suansan was one of three people apprehended out of 17 suspects who authorities said were responsible for the blast at Erawan Shrine, a popular tourist destination, particularly for visitors from China. The Bangkok Southern Criminal Court ruled that there was not enough evidence to link her to the bombing.

The two others being tried separately are ethnic Uyghurs, a Muslim minority in China that has suffered repression. All three were charged with a variety of offences, including murder, attempted murder and illegal possession of explosive materials.

The two Uyghurs were arrested in 2015 shortly after the bombing on Aug. 17. Ms. Suansan was arrested later when she voluntarily returned to Thailand from Turkey in 2017 to turn herself in when she was named as a suspect.

Thai authorities have said the bombing was revenge by a people-smuggling gang whose activities had been disrupted by the police. Thailand cracked down on human traffickers earlier in 2015 after abandoned camps for Rohingyas fleeing persecution in Myanmar and economic migrants from Bangladesh were found in the jungles along the Thai-Malaysia border.

However, some analysts suspect the bombing was the work of Uyghur separatists angry that Thailand had forcibly repatriated scores of Uyghurs to China in July that year. Many Uyghurs try to escape persecution and tight control in China with the help of professional smugglers. The shrine’s popularity among Chinese tourists lent support to the theory that the bombing had a political element.

While the two other suspects, Yusufu Mieraili and Bilal Mohammad, were allegedly linked by video, DNA and other evidence to the bombing, the case against Ms. Suansan was more circumstantial.