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Thailand: Authorities withdraw Thaksin’s passports

THAI authorities have revoked two passports belonging to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, it was announced yesterday.

The action followed an interview Mr Thaksin gave to South Korean media last week which the Thai government said could harm national security.

Speaking to the Chosun Ilbo newspaper last week, Mr Thaksin suggested that the privy council, which advises Thailand’s constitutional monarch, had engineered months of anti-government protests that culminated in a May 2014 coup.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chanocha, the former army chief who organised the coup, has insisted he staged it to restore stability and because there was no other way out of the political deadlock.

The Foreign Ministry said yesterday security agencies and police had advised that passports be cancelled because the interview could affect Thailand’s “security, safety and pride.”

Deputy government spokesman Major General Verachon Sukhonthapatiphak said the government had to act after security agencies had passed the issue on to it.

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