Hackers Target Thai Prison Websites in Latest Retaliation for Koh Tao Convictions

Hackers have successfully compromised more Thai government websites in the latest in a series of cyberattacks launched in response to the controversial December sentencing of two Burmese migrant workers to death.

Win Zaw Htun and Zaw Lin, both 22, were convicted of murdering David Miller, 24, and raping then murdering Hannah Witheridge, 23 — both British tourists — on the Thai island of Koh Tao in September 2014.

Social-media accounts linked to the global hacking collective Anonymous have reproduced claims that the two were wrongly convicted. Activists say the Thai police obtained confessions from the two Burmese men by torture, and a local forensic expert has backed claims that DNA evidence used in court was questionable.

On Thursday, the Facebook page We Are Anonymous posted a list of “all prison sites of Thailand,” which had apparently been hacked. A server status check showed that the main page for the Thai Department of Corrections was down.

The Facebook post used the hashtags #BoycottThailand and #KohTao, and also included a thank-you message to the Blink Hacker Group, which took credit for hacking almost 300 Thai court and government websites earlier this month.