BANGKOK, Thailand (AP)– Thailand’s Supreme Court freed an Iranian man Wednesday who had been sentenced to death for attempting to blow up the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok in 1994.
The court ordered Hossein Shahriari Far released immediately, saying witnesses who testified against him were unreliable and evidence casting doubt on his guilt had been ignored.
Shahriari Far was convicted of murder, sabotage, membership in a criminal gang and possession of bomb-making material for the 1994 attack. Two earlier appeals upheld a 1996 conviction.
Witnesses identified Shahriari Far as the driver of a rented truck abandoned at a Bangkok intersection after hitting a motorcycle several hundred yards from the Israeli Embassy.
The Supreme Court said in its ruling there were no reliable witnesses or forensic evidence linking Shahriari Far to the attack or the truck.
Police discovered plastic explosives and the body of a man who worked for the truck rental agency inside the truck. The man had been beaten and strangled.
Shahriari Far was identified by the injured driver of the motorcycle and employees of a local department store who came to his aid.
But the court said the motorcycle driver couldn’t identify the people who helped him, so it was doubtful he could accurately identify who drove the truck.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli Embassy.