DHAKA: Thailand’s military leaders have given ousted PM Yingluck Shinawatra permission to travel abroad for the first time since the coup.

A military spokesman said the request had been approved because Yingluck had ‘kept a low profile’ since her government was overthrown on 22 May.

Reports suggest she will travel to France for the birthday of her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra.

The military seized power after months of anti-government protests in Bangkok.

Thaksin, who turns 65 on 26 July, was ousted in a coup in 2006.

He was removed by the military, kicking of a cycle of political instability in Thailand. Convicted of corruption by a Thai court, he has been living in self-imposed exile overseas.

Yingluck had asked to travel to Europe from 20 July to 10 August, the military said.

They agreed because she had not ‘violated any orders of the NCPO (military junta) or any agreements, being the ban from politics or the ban on overseas travels’ and had ‘given good co-operation all along’, spokesman Col Winthai Suvaree told a press conference, reports the BBC.

At least 28 people died in the anti-government protests that brought Yingluck’s government down.

BDST: 1215 HRS, JUL 17, 2014