--- title: Lawyer Claims Bangkok Bombing Suspect Gave Forced Confession description: A lawyer for the man accused of planting a bomb that killed 20 people in Bangkok last year has said his client was tortured canonical: https://time.com/4224612/lawyer-bangkok-bombing-suspect-forced-confession/ author: Simon Lewis article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-15T09:13:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:04:44.135Z article:section: World og:title: Lawyer Claims Bangkok Bombing Suspect Gave Forced Confession og:description: 20 people died in the blast at the Erawan Shrine in August. og:url: https://time.com/4224612/lawyer-bangkok-bombing-suspect-forced-confession/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21cb68188d865701/69887d9a0a4a225e099c85fd/rtx1sk65.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: A suspect of the August 17 Bangkok blast is escorted by police officers during a crime re-enactment near the bomb site at Erawan Shrine in Bangkok og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lawyer Claims Bangkok Bombing Suspect Gave Forced Confession twitter:description: 20 people died in the blast at the Erawan Shrine in August. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21cb68188d865701/69887d9a0a4a225e099c85fd/rtx1sk65.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lawyer Claims Bangkok Bombing Suspect Only Confessed After Torture by [Simon Lewis](/author/simon-lewis/) ## Simon Lewis Feb 15, 2016 9:13 AM CUT  A suspect who has been referred to as both Bilal Mohammed and Adem Karadag is escorted by police officers during a crime re-enactment near the bomb site at Erawan Shrine in Bangkok on Sept. 26, 2015 A suspect who has been referred to as both Bilal Mohammed and Adem Karadag is escorted by police officers during a crime re-enactment near the bomb site at Erawan Shrine in Bangkok on Sept. 26, 2015Athit Perawongmetha—Reuters by [Simon Lewis](/author/simon-lewis/) ## Simon Lewis Feb 15, 2016 9:13 AM CUT A lawyer for the man accused of planting a bomb that killed 20 people in Bangkok last year has said his client was [tortured](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-thailand-blast-idUSKCN0VO0ID "undefined") into confessing his role in the attack. Thai police say that Adem Karadag — who reportedly belongs to the Uighur ethnic group — is the man in a yellow T-shirt seen on security cameras leaving a backpack at the Erawan Shrine on Aug. 17 shortly before the [blast](http://time.com/4000300/bangkok-thailand-bombing/ "undefined"), which killed mostly foreign tourists, including several Chinese. Ahead of a military court hearing on Tuesday, Schoochart Kanpai, Karadag’s lawyer, told Reuters that his client had retracted an earlier confession. “At the time he was tortured and under pressure. That is why he confessed to the charges against him,” the lawyer said. “He still maintains he has no involvement in this. The only charge he accepts is illegal entry.” A spokesperson for Thailand’s military government, Winthai Suvaree, denied that Karadag — or his fellow [suspect](http://time.com/4028868/bangkok-bombing-investigation-thailand-china-yusufu-mieraili/ "undefined"), Chinese-born Yusufu Mieraili — had been mistreated. “I am fairly certain nothing happened to the suspects while they were in military custody,” he told Reuters. Karadag, also known as Bilal Mohammed, was arrested on Aug. 29 while carrying a Turkish passport that police say was fake. Representatives of the suspect have said he [originally hails](http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/699856/turkey-to-malaysia-to-find-work-suspect-story "undefined") from the Xinjiang region of China, where ethnic Uighur separatists have clashed with the Chinese government in recent years, but moved to Turkey in 2004. Thai authorities have said the attack was [revenge](http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/09/thai-police-main-bangkok-bomber-suspect-custody-150926074444203.html "undefined") for a crackdown on a people-smuggling ring, but some believe the bombing was organized by a group Turkish militants in retaliation for Thailand handing over more than 100 Uighurs to Chinese authorities in July of last year. \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-thailand-blast-idUSKCN0VO0ID "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4224612/lawyer-bangkok-bombing-suspect-forced-confession/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4224612/lawyer-bangkok-bombing-suspect-forced-confession/"},"headline":"Lawyer Claims Bangkok Bombing Suspect Only Confessed After Torture","datePublished":"2016-02-15T09:13:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:04:44.135Z","description":"20 people died in the Aug. 17 blast at the Erawan Shrine","url":"https://time.com/4224612/lawyer-bangkok-bombing-suspect-forced-confession/","keywords":["Thailand","Bangkok","China","Tourism","Uighur"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21cb68188d865701/69887d9a0a4a225e099c85fd/rtx1sk65.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Simon Lewis","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/simon-lewis/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21cb68188d865701/69887d9a0a4a225e099c85fd/rtx1sk65.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A suspect of the August 17 Bangkok blast is escorted by police officers during a crime re-enactment near the bomb site at Erawan Shrine in Bangkok","caption":"A suspect of the August 17 Bangkok blast is escorted by police officers during a crime re-enactment near the bomb site at Erawan Shrine in Bangkok","creditText":"Athit Perawongmetha—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/thailand/","name":"Thailand"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4224612/lawyer-bangkok-bombing-suspect-forced-confession/","name":"Lawyer Claims Bangkok Bombing Suspect Only Confessed After Torture"}}]}] ```