Thailand’s National Legislative Assembly (NLS) has passed a law that will allow legal cases against fleeing suspects who are political post-holders to be tried in absentia. Government oppositions say the law has been designed to target former prime minister Thanksin Shinawatra, who now lives in exile. Separately, former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s legal team is scheduled to deliver their final defence witnesses on July 21, with the court is expected to hand down a ruling in September. She has been charged with failing to stop corruption and irregularities stemming from her government’s rice-pledging scheme.