Urgent Appeal Case

PAKISTAN: A Hindu teenager is told to marry her alleged rapist by jirga members; police and courts fail to act

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that four men who allegedly assisted in the rape of a young Hindu girl have been granted pre-arrest bail by a session court. Rape is a non-bailable offense in Pakistan and this is against criminal procedure and the law. Attempts by the family to file […]

INDONESIA: Innocent man allegedly arrested over false charges after illegal investigation process

Dear friends, The AHRC has received information from the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), that a man has been arbitrarily arrested and tortured while being interrogated on false charges. CASE DETAILS: According to information received from the Commission for The Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), Mr. Aan was interrogated by […]

NEPAL: Police torture a man to extract confession

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that police have tortured a 30-year-old man to force him to confess a theft and kept him under illegal detention for nine days. The police also let him be beaten up by villagers after announcing his ‘confession’. He was arrested along with three other […]

PAKISTAN: Urgent protection needed for the suvivors of love marriage-related murders; police refuse to investigate

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission has learned that authorities in North West Frontier province have taken no action to arrange urgently-needed protection for a man, his sister-in-law and her young son; all are in immediate danger of being murdered as a response to a love marriage, and three murders have already taken place. […]

BURMA: Citizen-journalist sentenced to 13 years for non-existent illegal video footage

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has obtained the details of the case against a journalist who has been imprisoned in Burma for sending video footage abroad. Ngwe Soe Linn was sentenced to 13 years in jail for supposedly sending illegal clips and going illegally into Thailand, even though there was no evidence […]

SRI LANKA: Police assault a three wheeler driver and force him to carry them for free

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that police in Chilaw illegally arrested, tortured and falsely accused a three-wheeler driver of carrying drugs. After ejecting the passengers, beating the driver and searching the vehicle the officers then forced him to give them a free ride. The man was later hospitalised. After a […]

SRI LANKA: Two men are abused by police for carrying opposition posters during the presidential election; one is arbitrarily arrested

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) would like to report a case of police brutality against members of the United National Party who were in possession of lawful posters for a rally supporting the presidential opposition candidate in December. One man from the party has been arrested and charged with carrying illegal political posters.  […]

NEPAL: Police beat up three detainees in Kathmandu

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that police have severely beaten up three detainees in the Metropolitan Police Range in Hanumandhoka, Kathmandu. Torture is widely use by police forces in Nepal as an easy way to carry an investigation and goes unpunished because of legal loopholes and general unaccountability of the […]

NEPAL: Police denies medical treatment to a torture victim

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to share its concern regarding a case of torture inflicted on an 18 year old student by the Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPR) of the Hanumandhoka police station in Kathmandu district on January 20, 2010. The victim was kept in detention for 28 days before being […]

BANGLADESH: Man arbitrarily detained and tortured to death by paramilitary force and police in Dhaka

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested a man named Md. Mohiuddin Arif from his house. Arif was arbitrarily detained for 54 hours in the custody of the RAB and tortured there as well as in his own house during a search conducted by […]

INDIA: A human rights defender tortured and electrocuted in Manipur

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about the case of a human rights defender tortured by the police in Imphal, Manipur state. It is reported that the police arrested and tortured the victim, Oinam Bikramjit, in custody. The victim fears that he will be re-arrested and tortured if he takes […]

BURMA: Eleven people illegally detained, tortured and tried without evidence

Dear friends, Even as the military government in Burma is preparing for a general election, it is imprisoning more and more groups of people for allegedly setting up illegal organisations. In this appeal we bring you the details of a case that is ongoing against 11 such persons who have all been accused of being […]

INDIA: A lawyer’s life is at risk after custodial torture

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that a lawyer in Manipur is in a severe condition following torture in custody. So far no proper investigation has been conducted and no complaint has been registered. It is believed that the victim’s injuries may be fatal.  CASE DETAILS:  Mr. Ramananda Taorem is a […]

NEPAL: Police kill a 25-year-old man in an alleged encounter in Banke

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a young member of an armed group was killed by Nepali police officers in an alleged encounter last December in Banka district’s Mataiya Village Development Committee. The lack of evidence relating to the encounter has led the AHRC to suspect that this is […]

SRI LANKA: Panwila police neglect a young man’s case of assault

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that police in Kandy have failed to adequately investigate an unprovoked attack on a young man in Madalkelle.  CASE DETAILS:  According to information we have received, on 2 October 2009 at 7pm Christopher David was walking home from his job at the youth movement, ‘Prajashakthi’ […]

INDIA: Varanasi police are indifferent to a child’s abduction and trafficking

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is calling for a legitimate investigation into the trafficking of a 14-year-old girl in Jaitpura, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. We have learned that local police officers initially refused to register the case of kidnapping and trafficking but that the Director General of Police did so after being contacted […]

UPDATE (Philippines): More details of procedural flaws and torture have surfaced in arrest of 43 health workers

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received further details of how the military and police used psychological torture methods on the 43 health workers who are continuously being held in a military camp. The 43 victims, two of whom had been tortured in the past, were illegally arrested on questionable charges in […]

BURMA: Nine people imprisoned on confessions obtained from torture

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has already issued an open letter on the case of Dr. Wint Thu and eight other people who in December 2009 were given long jail terms for alleged offences against the state in Burma after they were tortured into giving confessions that the police used in court. […]

SRI LANKA: Balagolla police mislead a magistrate and prepare charges against the wrong person

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that police in Balagolla have deprived a woman of her right to redress and grossly misled a magistrate by presenting the wrong person in court. The woman was run over and severely, permanently injured by a negligent motorcyclist, but because she refused to settle or […]

SRI LANKA: A political analyst has been missing since the election run-up

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the disappearance of journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda shortly after he wrote articles supporting the presidential opposition candidate. His office was ransacked shortly after, the website he writes for was blocked during the election, and there have been delays and flaws in the police investigation. […]