Translator for Bangkok bombing suspects held on drug charges
Uzbek national claims his arrest is punishment for helping Thailand’s Uygur community
A translator for two Uygur men accused of a deadly Bangkok bombing was remanded in custody on Friday for drug possession, further complicating a murky trial that has failed to answer key questions about the unprecedented attack on Thailand.
Sirojiddin Bakhodirov was arrested this week with small amounts of marijuana and crystal meth.
On Friday, a Bangkok court extended the Uzbek national’s remand, according to police.
But Bakhodirov, who is the only Uygur translator at the Bangkok bomb trial, said the drugs were planted on him as punishment for helping Thailand’s Uygur community.
The mostly Muslim ethnic minority faces persecution and discrimination in their homeland in northwestern China, forcing many to flee and often use Thailand as a transit country.