Oxford researcher clarifies his e-mail against Thai PM

Lee Jones said his March 6 e-mail to the dean of St John's College was private and written in haste.

In his posting at his website www.leejones.tk, Jones said the e-mail had been leaked to the Thai website Prachatai and Thai newspapers without his permission.

He said he had also just learned that the opposition Pheu Thai Party had called a press conference to draw attention to his e-mail, to discredit Abhisit and his government.

The researcher clarified that it was never his intention for his e-mail to serve as "ammunition" to Pheu Thai in its attack on Abhisit or his government.

"Those who are using this e-mail to do this are doing so unscrupulously and without my consent," he wrote.

Jones said it also was not his wish to have the prime minister prevented from giving his speech at Oxford.

"I was not calling for Mr Abhisit to be disinvited from speaking at Oxford … I regret that my e-mail gives the impression that I wished Mr Abhisit to be barred from speaking," he wrote.