BANGKOK: Two Iranian men arrested last year after a botched terror plot in Bangkok that allegedly targeted Israeli diplomats proclaimed their innocence yesterday, telling a court they were unaware of the stash of homemade bombs found in the house they were staying in.
Their lawyer had given similar accounts earlier, but their testimony yesterday was the first in their own words since their trial began in December.
Yesterday’s testimony came more than a year after explosives blew apart a home where the men were staying in a residential Bangkok neighborhood last year. The explosion uncovered a plot that Thai authorities say was aimed at Israeli envoys and that Israel says was part of an Iranian-backed network of terror.
Saeid Moradi, 29, a factory technician from Tehran and a former soldier, pleaded innocence and said he didn’t know from where the bombs came in his room and that he immediately tried to take them outside to dispose of them, when it exploded blowing off his legs.
The second defendant, Mohammad Kharzei, 42, also testified that he was not a terrorist and had nothing to do with the explosions.
If convicted, Kharzei could face 27 years in prison on charges of possession of unlawful explosives and causing explosions that damaged property. Moradi could face the death penalty on attempted murder charges.
He said he had not known Moradi until they met at an airport in Tehran before boarding their flight to Thailand.
The two men were the only witnesses presented by the defense. A verdict is scheduled to be delivered June 20.
Another suspect, Iranian Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, 31, who met Moradi and Kharzei in Pattaya, fled to Malaysia and was arrested the day after the bombing. He is currently appealing an extradition order to Thailand.
Defense lawyer Kittipong Kiattanapoom said after yesterday’s court session that he was confident the court would give justice to the two suspects.
