Thai court jails Iranian pair over botched Bangkok bomb plot

BANGKOK - Agence France-Presse

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. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom

Two Iranian men were sentenced to between 15 years and life Aug.22 for their parts in a botched bomb plot last year in Bangkok that ended with one of them having his legs blown off.

Saeid Moradi, 29, who lost his limbs as he hurled an explosive device at police, was found guilty on charges including attempted murder and handed a life term by the Bangkok Southern Criminal court. A judge said the court found him "guilty of carrying explosives in public, using explosives to attempt to kill officials and using explosives which caused the destruction of property".

A second defendant, Mohammad Khazaei, 43, was given a 15 year jail term for possession of explosives.

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.