Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is at the centre of an uproar against a government-proposed decree widely seen as being enacted primarily to pardon his jail term, said he had no knowledge of the move.

Speaking from his Dubai base late on Wednesday, Thaksin said the cabinet was discussing the annual pardon of convicts which forms part of His Majesty the King’s birthday celebrations, not a special amnesty.

Read more: Bangkok Post