The king of Cambodia has pardoned a Thai man convicted of spying. The man, who works for Cambodian air traffic control, was accused of leaking the flight details of the former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra during a visit to Cambodia.

On Tuesday the air traffic employee was sentenced to seven years in prison, heightening diplomatic tension between the neighbouring countries. Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen therefore asked King Norodom Sihamoni to grant the man a pardon.

Mr Thaksin travels back and forth to Phnom Penh as an economic advisor to the Cambodian government. But in Thailand he has been sentenced in absentia to two years' imprisonment for corruption. Last month Thailand asked Cambodia to extradite its ousted former prime minister but in vain.