Thai court sentences Iranians for bombing
Thai prison officers escort Iranian Saeid Moradi, 29, (in wheelchair) and Mohammad Khazaei, 43, as they leave the Bangkok South Criminal Court August 22, 2013. Photo: ReutersThailand has sentenced two Iranian men to prison for involvement in a foiled bombing plot.
A court in Bangkok on Thursday sentenced 29-year-old Saeid Moradi to life in prison for attempted murder and possession of explosives that damaged property. The other defendant, 43-year-old Mohammad Kharzei, was given 15 years in prison for possessing explosives.
Both suspects had denied the charges.
The pair, who had denied the charges, were among five Iranians suspected of involvement in the blasts that followed attacks in India and Georgia targeting Israeli diplomats.
A huge explosion tore the roof off a house in suburban Bangkok on February 14 last year, when bombs detonated apparently accidentally, sending the five men fleeing into the streets.
Prosecutors accused Moradi of hurling one bomb at a taxi and a second at two police officers as they approached him on the street, but it instead detonated near him.
The court heard that Khazaei ran out of the house after the first explosion and headed to the airport where police arrested him at the boarding gate.
Israel accused Tehran of waging a terror campaign over the incidents, which came soon after bombers targeted Israeli embassy staff in the capitals of India and Georgia in attacks Israel said were plotted by Iran.
One man is in custody in Malaysia, where he fled after the Bangkok explosions, and is fighting extradition to Thailand.
Two other suspects are believed to have returned to Iran.
Source: Agencies
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