I’m not an animal: Thai blast suspect

One of the two ethnic Uighur Muslims from China, accused of involvement in a deadly bombing in Thailand last year, broke down and complained of mistreatment on Tuesday as he appeared in court.

Twenty people were killed and more than 120 injured in the bombing on Aug. 17 at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok when it was thronged with tourists. Five of the dead were from China and two were from Hong Kong. However, no group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Analysts, diplomats and even some officials suspected the attack was linked to sympathisers of the Uighur Muslim minority in western China angered by the Thai junta’s deportation of more than 100 Uighurs to China the previous month. But the Thai police ruled out “terrorism” as a motive and said that the perpetrators were members of a network that trafficked Uighurs and launched the attack in anger at a Thai crackdown on the trade.

The police has arrested two suspects, Yusufu Mieraili and Adem Karadag, both of whom are Uighurs, and have issued arrest warrants for 15 other people.