[JURIST] The Taliban [JURIST news archive] have claimed responsibility for the Sunday killing of Sitara Achakzai, a women's rights advocate in Afghanistan [JURIST news archive] and a member of Kandahar's provincial assembly. Achakzai, who had returned to Afghanistan to pursue women's rights after living in Germany during the Taliban's rule, was shot outside her Kandahar home [AP report] after being approached by gunmen on motorcycles. The killing [Kuwait News Agency report] comes in the midst of controversy over the Afghan central government's Shi'ite Personal Status Law [JURIST news archive], which reportedly requires a woman to seek her husband's permission before leaving the house and effectively condones rape within a marriage. The text of that law has not been officially published.

Last week, Mohammad Asif Mohseni, a key Shi'ite cleric, defended the status law [JURIST report] and characterized Western criticism of it as interference with Afghan democracy. President Hamid Karzai signed the measure into law in March - reportedly as a conciliatory measure towards the Taliban - then called for its review [JURIST reports] under mounting international pressure.

[JURIST] Chinese police have begun an investigation into the Saturday death of another prisoner in the country's jails, state news service Xinhua reported [text] Saturday. It was the second death to occur in the facility this year, and comes after last week's announcement of an earlier death [Shanghai Daily report] in a separate facility. The investigation into this death comes as the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) [official website, in Chinese] conducts a broader investigation [JURIST report] into numerous "suspicious" prison deaths in the country. There has been widespread criticism following the deaths, which have frequently been labeled accidental though many suspect they are the consequence of abuse by guards or other inmates.

In late November, the UN Committee Against Torture [official website] said in response [text, PDF; JURIST report] to a report on China that it was "concerned about reports of abuses in custody, including high numbers of deaths, possibly related to torture or ill-treatment, and about the lack of investigation into these abuses and deaths in custody." The committee recommended that China arrange for independent investigations into all in-custody deaths and ensure that those responsible for the deaths are prosecuted. China later rejected the report [JURIST report], saying that it was biased. In July, a Chinese prosecutor was given a life sentence [JURIST report] for torturing and killing a corruption suspect.

[JURIST] A "legal framework" is needed to enforce existing international laws against piracy [JURIST news archive], Adm. Thad Allen [official profile; blog], Commandant of the US Coast Guard [official website], said in an interview [transcript, with video] on ABC's "This Week" [media website] Sunday morning. Allen said the latest acts of Somali piracy [BBC Q&A], in which American Capt. Richard Phillips was taken hostage after a struggle on the Maersk Alabama, highlighted the need for authorization for forces to enter Somali waters to combat piracy:

What you really have to have is a coordinating mechanism that ultimately brings these pirates to court where they can be held accountable. ... [T]hese are criminal acts. These are acts — crimes against the Law of the Sea Treaty, and they're also crimes against the 1988 convention in Rome,Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation. There is ample legal requirements and jurisdiction to be able to take action against these pirates. And that's what we should be doing.

[JURIST] Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva [BBC profile] on Saturday instituted a state of emergency in Bangkok and several provinces and cancelled [press release] an ongoing summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) [official website] leaders in the country following an outbreak of protests calling for his resignation. The protests were lead by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), a group associated with former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. Abhisit ended the state of emergency [Pattaya Daily News report] in the summit city of Pattaya later on Saturday, but the order remains in place in Bangkok and the surrounding area. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon [official profile] expressed regret [press release] at the summit's cancellation.

Under the state of emergency, public gatherings are banned, police are given broader powers to arrest, and the government may censor media reports, but large protests continued on Sunday [Bangkok Post report] despite the order. Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said the he did not believe there would be a coup [Xinhua report], but there have been reports that several government officials have been detained [Bangkok Post report] by the protesters.

Abhisit took over as prime minister in December, after the Constitutional Court of Thailand [official website, in Thai] ordered the dissolution [JURIST report] of the ruling People's Power Party (PPP) [party website, in Thai], and banned then-prime minister Somchai Wongsawat [Nation profile] from politics for five years as the result of an election fraud investigation. Thaksin, ousted as prime minister [JURIST report] in a 2006 military coup, was convicted on corruption charges [JURIST reports] by the Supreme Court of Thailand in October.