Statement

A senior surgeon belonging to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam has been missing since October 30, 2011. He was traveling in a car with his son of eleven years. The car was found abandoned far away from his home. Dr. Shah Muhammad Javed, a resident of Sadiqabad Mohallah Kotli Azad Kashmir, the Pakistani part of […]

Duminda Silva is above the law. This is not due to any constitutional status that he has, as for example, the President of Sri Lanka who is by virtue of article 35 of the Constitution, above the law. In the case of Duminda Silva he is above the law only because the president or his […]

Miss Uzma Ayub, the 16 year old girl who was repeatedly raped by more than a dozen persons in the captivity of a soldier and police officials for almost one year, has shown her courage and strength. Made pregnant as a result of the continual rape she endured she has decided to have the child. […]

Police officials accused of having, along with a soldier, gang-raped a 16 year-old girl for one year are now targeting the lawyers working with the victim. At the time of writing, four of her lawyers were abducted, kept in illegal detention, tortured and threatened to quit the case on different occasions. The resoluteness of the […]

During the second sitting of the new semi-elected parliament in Burma this year, the government submitted a draft land law. The government gazette published the draft on September 16, and it is currently still before the parliament. Burma needs a new land law. The current legislation on land, either for reasons of content or because […]

Large numbers of persons will gather at the Monument for the Disappeared at Raddoluwa Junction, Seeduwa today (October 27, 2011) to pay their respects to the disappeared persons in Sri Lanka and to demand justice on their behalf. This is annual event which has been since 1991 after the bodies of two persons were found […]

The unspoken message is also clear: that the judiciary can expect no help from the government for carrying out their sworn duty to uphold the laws of the land. The government’s policy to appease the militant religious organizations and Jihadis is continued in the clear cut violation of the constitution and the law. Once again […]

The forced conversion to Islam of women from religious minority groups through rape and abduction has reached an alarming stage which challenges interfaith harmony due to the total collapse of the rule of law and biased attitude of the judicial officers. It appears today that no one, from the judiciary to the police and even […]

In what appears to be an ‘absolutely normal’ practice in India, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state, Ms Mayawati, has declared, that one of her ministers, accused of having raped a girl, is not guilty. The chief minister also declared, that there would be no investigation against the minister. The incident of rape of […]

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission and the Center for Victims of Torture-Nepal As Lapka Tamang’s torture case will be heard on October 24, 2011 in Dulikhel District Court, Kavre, the Center for Victims of Torture-Nepal (CVICT) and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) expect the hearing will take place according to […]

In the editorial of the Island on October 19, 2011 with the title: ‘Sowing the whirlwind’ the opening paragraph is as follows: SLFP politicians are killing each other as the government has allowed them to rise above the law. When presidential advisor Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra was killed and UPFA MP Duminda Silva received serious injury […]

The implications of the failure to prosecute Duminda Silva The editor of the Sunday Leader, in an article entitled ‘The law is an ass’ questions the statement by a government spokesman that Duminda Silva is not a suspect in the killings of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and three others. Some members of Bharatha Lakshman’s family also […]

The Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, addressing the sixth annual convention of Information Commissioners in New Delhi has said that the government will be critically reviewing the Right to Information Act, 2005 so that the legislation does not “affect the deliberative process in the government”. In his speech delivered on 14 October, addressing […]

Among the many analyses of the release of a couple of hundred political prisoners in a total of over 6000 detainees let out of Burma’s prisons last week, the most precise and succinct came from a famous comedian, Zarganar. Imprisoned for criticising the relief effort in the wake of Cyclone Nargis in 2008, Zarganar spoke […]

Orissa is one of the states in India that has failed to assimilate the spirit of the 73rd amendment of the Indian constitution, which provides a constitutional framework to the Panchayat Raj. The state has also failed to appreciate the Right to Information Act, 2005. The state’s bureaucracy behaves as if it is in war […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is disappointed by a local court’s unnecessary delay in concluding the habeas corpus writ of torture victim Abdul Khan Ajid. The purpose of the writ was to question the legality of Ajid’s detention in the place of the real accused, Kanneh Malikil, member of the Abu Sayaff Group (ASG), an illegal […]

That murder should not be looked on lightly and the murderers must be punished is one of the most basic moral judgements in any human society. The attitude taken by the Sri Lankan government that no legal action need be taken against Duminda Silva, who has been identified by witnesses as having instigated and taken […]

Murders of father, mother and two children in Udawalawe While the whole nation was shocked by the multiple killings at Mulleriyawa, another set of gruesome murders have been reported from Puhulyaya, Panahakaduwa, in Udawalawe. A father M K Lalith (37), mother R Indrani Gnanalatha (32), son M K Dilan Chathuranga (12), daughter M K Nadeeka […]

At 5 pm Indian standard time today (14 October), the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Ms Mayawati, will inaugurate a park in Noida, that Mayawati claims is a Dalit memorial to symbolise Dalit liberation and power in India. Noida is close to New Delhi, the national capital. It is reported that the park, constructed at […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the assault upon lawyer and activist Mr. Prashant Bhushan. The incident happened yesterday, October 12, 2011 in the lawyer’s chamber. The assailants claimed to belong to an allegedly fundamentalist group named Bhaghat Singh Kranti Sena. Soon after the incident however, another similarly fundamentalist group named Sri Ram Sene […]