Statement

According to an announcement issued today on the website of Prachatai, one of the few independent and outspoken media outlets operating in Thailand,  “On March 6, at 3 pm, seven police officers visited Prachatai office in Bangkok, showing a search warrant and an arrest warrant for Chiranuch Premchaiporn, Prachatai Director. She is charged with the […]

Bhagalpur, a district in Bihar state, has once again shot into notoriety for public violence. Yesterday, a mob lynched three persons at Ratanpur Bazar area of Bhagalpur. The victims of this violence belong to two rival extortion syndicates of the locality, who fired at each other to settle a dispute. A woman was injured during […]

A fundamental rights petition has been filed by two lawyers against the Inspector General of Police and 12 other police officers. This petition will be argued before the Supreme Court today (5th March) by a group of senior lawyers lead by Mr. Faiz Musthapha.  The Petitioners are H.T. Amitha Ariyaratne and H.R.D.G. Mendis, a husband […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  AHRC-STM-048-2009  March 04, 2009 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission PAKISTAN: Order an honour killing – become a minister The Asian Human Rights Commission is extremely concerned to discover that a man accused of ordering an honour killing last year in a tribal court – and who is still openly pursuing the […]

In 1991 two accords were concluded to end the war that had ravaged Cambodia for so many years. These accords assigned the UN to keep the peace, organize the election of a new government and administer Cambodia for some 18 months, in 1992 and 1993, for all these purposes.  The UN presence then gave birth […]

Several events which have taken place in recent weeks remind us of the deepening of the crises in the region. In Bangladesh, in The Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) 55 officers, Seven civilians including two officer’s wives, were killed by lower ranking officers. Five other senior officers are still missing. Those who were killed include the Major […]

The reports that appeared yesterday in the Indian media quoting ‘informed sources’ that the Tamil Nadu state police has decided not to produce detainees in courts exposes the extent to which the justice institutions have broken down in India. According to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 it is the statutory duty of […]

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan has declared two leading politicians of the country, Mr. Nawaz Sharif and Mr. Shahbaz Sharif, as ineligible to hold parliamentary positions. Mr. Nawaz is the former Prime Minister and the leader of the second largest political party, the PML-N, and Mr. Shahbaz is the Chief Minister […]

The world was reminded of the tragic paradoxes that take place daily in Pakistan, when a young journalist was kidnapped and executed last month while covering a march for peace. Mr. Musa Khankhel, journalist and correspondent of Geo Television disappeared on February 18, while covering a procession led by Maulana Sufi Mohammad, a religious leader […]

Three prisoners were killed within the premises of the Negombo prison last week. One of the prisoners shot two others with a pistol he had in his possession. Thereafter, he climbed into a tree and announced that he would surrender only if the commissioner of prisons came to the scene. This was perhaps to avoid […]

Three prisoners were killed within the premises of the Negombo prison last week. One of the prisoners shot two others with a pistol he had in his possession. Thereafter, he climbed into a tree and announced that he would surrender only if the commissioner of prisons came to the scene. This was perhaps to avoid […]

The non-commissioned officers of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) have revolted against their commanding officers of the Bangladesh Army. Officers from the regular army head the BDR under deputation. The revolt started at the Headquarters of the BDR yesterday. The officers used heavy artillery resulting in an unexpectedly high number of casualties within the force, as […]

The judiciary in South Korea had made some humiliating decisions under political influence during military dictatorships in the past. Some judges who collaborated with the then-government by judging in its favour, got speedy promotions as a form of compensation. Others who fulfilled their commitment as judges underwent either physical threats or the threat of demotion. […]

Thousands of peasants from different parts of the Sindh province are on a long march demanding amendments in the Sindh Tenancy Act, 1950. The demand is to obtain equal status for the peasants while they share the harvest with the landlords, irrespective of the loan they have availed from the landlords for agriculture. The practice […]

The recent incident of violence between a faction of lawyers practicing at the Madras High Court and the Tamil Nadu local police is one more incident that exposes the appalling state of rule of law in India. On 19 February, the local police, in order to curb a strike called by the lawyers, closed the […]

Mr. John Solecki, who heads the United Nation’s refugee agency UNHCR’s Quetta office in Pakistan, was abducted on 2nd February, 2009, by a militant group, fighting for political autonomy of the Southern province, Balochistan. He has still not been released. The group, the Balochistan Liberation United Front (BLUF), is demanding the release of 6,000 disappeared […]

The newly elected Government of Bangladesh led by the Bangladesh Awami League has announced its decision of withdrawing “politically motivated” cases that are pending before the courts across the country.  Quoting the country’s Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Barrister Shafique Ahmed the local media reports that the government wishes to unburden the courts of […]

On 26 January, 2009 a 21-year-old girl was covered in petrol by her husband and her in-laws and burned to death. Mrs. Bisma Bibi, resident of Chak number 86, NB Sargodha, Punjab, had been married to one, Mr. Muhammad Safdar for about a year and a half and had a six-month-old baby, according to local […]

A group of domestic helpers from Sri Lanka interviewed last week in Hong Kong expressed views which are representative of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers, as well as those aspiring to be migrant workers. When asked why they have come to work in Hong Kong the unanimous reply was, “we simply can’t earn enough […]

The constitutional petition No. D-2417/2008, regarding the eight women and four children who were made hostages by the police of four districts of Sindh province, for the surrender of a robber was heard by the double bench of Sindh High Court yesterday. The application for sou motto action was filed by the AHRC which was […]