Statement

On November 19, 2007 an elderly man named Hach Tuos, 57, from Reaksmei Sang-ha village, Khnach Romeas commune, Bovel district in the northwestern province of Battambang, went with another man who he later told the police was a motorcycle taxi driver, to a karaoke parlour in Battambang city which is the capital of that province. […]

The attack on the printing press of the Sunday Leader as well as the very manner in which the attack was carried out, comes as no surprise to anyone who has observed the ease with which any form of violence can be perpetrated in present day Sri Lanka. The strategy of this violence is now […]

Every move that General Musharraf has taken for the singular purpose of his own survival has plunged Pakistan into a greater state of lawlessness. Strangely, General Musharraf seems to believe that the independence of the judiciary is an obstacle to stability. One of the major reasons for imposing the emergency, which is another name for […]

In recent weeks, authorities in Thailand have acted to curtail the rights of persons who are among the most vulnerable in society. Visiting Samut Sakhorn, adjacent to Bangkok, coup leader turned deputy prime minister General Sonthi Boonyaratglin said on 14 November 2007 that he would deal with the “problem” of migrant workers having children in […]

On 13 November 2007, three villagers named Seng Kosal, 38, Kim Sovann, 55, and Chhim Sophoan, 42, all small traders living at Choam Sragnam pass of the Dangrek mountain range bordering Thailand in Trapeang Prey commune, Anlong Veng District in the northwestern province of Oudor Meanchey, were arrested and taken to the provincial court of […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AS-274-2007 November 22, 2007 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission SRI LANKA: One law for the judge and another for the witness – third anniversary of Gerald Perera’s assasination In the third week of November, 2004 two assassinations took place. One was that of Justice Sarath Ambepitya, a High Court […]

The situation in Parachinar, an Afghan city bordering the Khurram Agency of the North Western Frontier Province, and its outskirts came to a head when Pakistan Army Gunship helicopters started shelling residential areas. Parachinar city is a predominantly Shia sect area, a minority sect of Islam. It is reported that clashes started when videos of […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission is pleased that the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has published its view in the case of Lieutenant Dingiri Banda after he claimed that he was tortured by two captains of the Sri Lankan Army. The UNHRC has held that the Sri Lankan government violated the rights of Dingiri […]

The AHRC is sharing with you a list of the judges and lawyers that have been arrested, tortured or brought under house arrest since the enactment of emergency law in Pakistan by General Pervez Musharraf. However, this list is not complete. We therefore call upon the public to support the lawyers of the democratic movement […]

Since General Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency and dismissed the Supreme Court of Pakistan on November 3, appointing a mock bench in its place, over 3000 lawyers have been held in remand and many of the best known lawyers in the country are in hiding. Outspoken political leaders are under detention, while others, […]

Pressure applied by the government of Pakistan has caused officials in Dubai to order that the broadcasts of two popular television channels, Geo News and ARY, be cut as of midnight on November 16. Both channels are based in the UAE but for the most part broadcast news about Pakistan. According to the press reports […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  AS-268-2007 November 16, 2007 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission BURMA: State, not citizens, the cause of fear & alarm As Burma’s military regime sets about concocting court cases against those whom it has labelled as the ringleaders of protests around the country in August and September, it is increasingly […]

Lawyers Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) and Lawyers without Borders/Québec (LWB) and the Dutch Lawyers for Lawyers Foundation (L4L) and the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) join to call for: 1.  The immediate release of all lawyers arrested under preventative detention measures, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, Asma Jahangir, United Nations Special Rapporteur on […]

We reproduce below the final in the series of five cases researched on the basis of the information collected by the Asian Human Rights Commission in the past years reflecting the type of issues faced by persons who, having become victims of crime or abuse of rights faced extraordinarily repressive conditions when they sought redress. […]

According to a report in the New Light of Myanmar of 9 November 2007 on the latest visit of the United Nations special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, “During August and September when the nation saw protest marches, the government had to tackle in accordance with the law the incidents in which some people violated […]

Nandigram, a remote village in West Bengal state of India is once again in front page news in the country. This remote village in West Bengal was in the news 11 months ago when violence erupted in the village. The Communist party led state government used force to silence the protesting farmers who were agitating […]

We reproduce below the fourth in a series of five cases researched on the basis of the information collected by the Asian Human Rights Commission in the past years reflecting the type of issues faced by persons who, having become victims of crime or abuse of rights faced extraordinarily repressive conditions when they sought redress. […]

General Pervez Musharraf on 11 November 2007 announced that he “expects” general elections to be held in Pakistan before January 9, within 60 days of the National Assembly’s dissolution on November 15. He did not indicate an exact date for the elections or when he will lift the state of emergency that he imposed over […]

We the undersigned wish to express our grave concern regarding the ongoing political and human rights crisis in Pakistan. As we meet in Sao Paolo, Brazil for the seventh International Colloquium on Human Rights, organised by NGO Conectas, which aims to strengthen human rights in the South, we note with shock the ongoing crackdown in […]

We reproduce below the third of a series of five cases researched on the basis of the information collected by the Asian Human Rights Commission in the past years reflecting the type of issues faced by persons who, having become victims of crime or abuse of rights faced extraordinarily repressive conditions when they sought redress. […]