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Myanmar workers retract confessions to killing 2 British tourists: Lawyer

Workers from Myanmar, Saw, left, and Win, sit together, escorted by a Thai police officer, during a press conference in Koh Tao island, Surat Thani province. Thailand, Friday, Oct. 3, 2014. Thai police have arrested the two Myanmar workers they say confessed to killing a pair of British tourists on a beach in the southern Thailand last month.
Workers from Myanmar, Saw, left, and Win, sit together, escorted by a Thai police officer, during a press conference in Koh Tao island, Surat Thani province. Thailand, Friday, Oct. 3, 2014. Thai police have arrested the two Myanmar workers they say confessed to killing a pair of British tourists on a beach in the southern Thailand last month. AP Photo/Handout

BANGKOK – Lawyers for two Myanmar migrant workers accused of killing two British travellers on a southern Thai resort island say the two have retracted their confessions and now claim to have neither raped the female victim nor slain the pair.

The battered bodies of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller were found on a beach on Koh Tao island on Sept. 15.

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Human rights lawyer Rasada Manurasada said Wednesday that Win Saw Thun and Zaw Lin, both 21, have sent a retraction letter to prosecutors handling their case.

Rasada said the arrested men claimed they were tortured and forced to confess under police custody, allegations previously denied by the police.

The crime damaged the image of Thailand’s tourism industry, and its investigation has attracted concern the men might be scapegoats.

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