Ousted PM urges Thais to bring him home from exile

Bangkok: Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, sentenced last month to two years in jail for breaking a conflict of interest law, urged his supporters on Saturday to help bring him home from exile in Britain.

Thaksin, who jumped bail to London in August, said the case against him was politically motivated by his opponents and the jail term was meant to keep him out of the country's political arena for at least ten years.

"Nobody can bring me home except Their Majesties' graciousness or the will of the people," Thaksin said in a 10-minute telephone call from Hong Kong to tens of thousands of supporters in red shirts at a Bangkok stadium.

"The jail term means I have to be on the run for 10 years, but I want to ask my fellow citizens if they really want me out of the country that long," Thaksin said as 40,000 people from around the country shouted supportive slogans at the stadium.

Thai prosecutors are urging London to extradite Thaksin, who won two landslide election victories, but was ousted in a 2006 coup on accusations of corruption and abuses of power.

In interviews with Reuters last month, Thaksin said he was not seeking and would not seek political asylum in Britain as reported by some British media, as he was eligible to visit Britain any time.

At the rally he did not say how he wanted the people to help bring him home.

Saturday's rally was a show of support for the government accused by street protesters of being a proxy of Thaksin.