Cambodia Rejects Thai Call to Arrest Thaksin

(PHNOM PENH, Cambodia) — Cambodia has turned down a request from Thailand to arrest former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who last year was sentenced in absentia by a Thai court to two years imprisonment for violating a conflict of interest law.

A statement from Cambodia's Foreign Affairs Ministry on Wednesday said the request to detain Thaksin for extradition would not be honored because the legal case against him was politically motivated, and therefore not covered by the countries' extradition treaty.

Thaksin lives in self-imposed exile. He is visiting Cambodia to give a lecture after his appointment last week as an adviser on economic affairs to the Phnom Penh government. His appointment has strained relations between Cambodia and Thailand.

See TIME's Pictures of the Week.

See the Cartoons of the Week.