Urgent Appeal Update

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is appealing to you to write to the Indian authorities to release Dr. Binayak Sen, a human rights activist and medical doctor currently being held at Raipur Central Prison in Chhattisgarh state. UPDATED INFORMATION: The arrest of Dr. Sen is a knee jerk reaction of the Chhattisgarh […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received further information about Benedict Rosery, a 25-year-old three wheeler driver who had been allegedly tortured at the Peradeniya police station, after being implicated in a murder case on 20 May 2007 (For details, see: UA-183-2007). We were informed that the owner of the three-wheeler (Benedict’s employer) […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that Sindh police again allegedly threatened a gang-rape survivor to immediately leave the apartment where she and her family have been temporarily staying in Karachi for their safety on 21 June 2007. The police threw their household possessions out of the house provided […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that on 16 June 2007, a Radio Free Asia reporter, Lem Pichpisey, who is also known by his on-air pseudonym, Lem Piseth, 38, received a death threat through his mobile phone after he reported on the illegal logging activities and massive deforestation in Kompong Thom […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that the workers of a Korean-owned garment factory, who had been on strike for nine months, were violently attacked by armed men while peacefully holding a picket line in front of their factory on 10-11 June 2007. The attackers, carrying bladed weapons […]

Dear friends, The AHRC writes to inform you of yet another delay in the intermediate review of the death sentences of five men, known as the “Abadilla 5”, by the Court of Appeals (CA). In our previous appeal we mentioned that for over two years, the CA has failed to make its decision due to […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is sorry to inform that as feared local officials in Rangoon appear to have successfully covered up their murder of a young man in March (UA-096-2007). The family of Ko Naing Oo has not been notified about any of the legal proceedings or other matters since his […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has closely followed the postmortem inquest of 78 people who died in army custody after protesting outside Tak Bai police station in October 2004 (UP-056-2007). In recent hearings, the army general in charge on the day testified that he knew that the protesters were piled up on […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned about the situation of a group of Burmese human rights defenders who were assaulted with the backing and involvement of local authorities and the police last April (UA-135-2007). Six have been charged upsetting public tranquillity and have been refused bail (UP-062-2007). Meanwhile, the criminal […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information on the post-mortem inquest into the killing of 19 young men by the police in southern Thailand during 2004 (UP-075-2007). At the end of May, a member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Thailand told the court investigating the killings that […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to inform you of two further cases of arbitrary arrest and torture connected to the case of the brutal torture and attempted rape of one woman which we had reported previously (UA-177-2007). As in the previous case, the victims in both cases were arbitrarily arrested by […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that the detention of Dr. Binayak Sen, a medical doctor and human rights activist based in Chhattisgarh, India has been extended to a further period of 14 days. The AHRC had in the past forwarded an appeal issued by the Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that the Kampot Provincial Court freed two villagers representing 30 families fighting for their right to land in Kep municipality, Kampot province on 25 May 2007. The two men were allegedly forced to give confessions that they have illegally lived on the land […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that another two peasants were killed while six others were wounded when security guards of an influential landlord open fired on them on 4 June 2007. The guards started shooting at the farmers to prevent them from entering a portion of the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you of the continuing failure by the leadership of the military to surrender their men, including a sergeant who is subject to arrest for the murder of a couple, Bacar and his wife Carmen Japalali nearly three years ago in Tagum City, Mindanao. Even […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about another post mortem inquest into the killings of people by the security forces in southern Thailand. The inquest concerns the police killing of 19 young men in at Sabayoi in southern Thailand on 28 April 2004. It relates to the Krue Se Mosque […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about continuing threats, including death threats, and harassment allegedly being perpetrated by members of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) (CPN-M) against 13-year-old school girl Sarita (name changed for her security) and her mother in Baglung district, Nepal. Since March 2007 the two victims […]

Dear friends, As the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has already reported (UA-136-2007; UP-065-2007) police in Kalasin district of northeastern Thailand are accused of abducting and killing at least 24 persons in the past two years. We have already reported on the details of four cases; in this update we give the names and basic details […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding yet another incident of targeted attacks against officials and the offices of a political party, the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas), in Palu, Central Sulawesi on 13 May 2007. It is reported that around 50 to 60 persons allegedly attached to […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is pleased to inform you that two influential persons in Thailand have received long sentences for rape and murder of migrant workers. However, a police officer who assisted the offender in the rape case has not been punished as the case against her remains pending. BUSINESSMAN JAILED […]