Urgent Appeal Update

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a male teacher Prasad Janaka of the Saralankara School in Galle, who was accused in the Magistrate’s Court Case No 59302 of assaulting and causing hurt to 16-year-old P.W. Pushpakumara on 3 March 2005 was released by the Magistrate last month. This was […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is very concerned about the lack of progress in the investigation prosecution of three army officers identified by a court as responsible for the killing of at least 28 young men. Meanwhile, one of the officers, General Pallop Pinmanee, is reportedly going to be reappointed to a […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that the Sihanoukville governor, Say Hak, lodged a file complaint against Mr. Chhim Savuth, a human rights investigator for Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) based in Sihanoukville for attempting to create a secession area in Mitapheap district in order to oppose the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) had previously received information that the Ratanakiri provincial governor allegedly rejected the prosecutor’s decision, made on 16 November 2006, of halting the planned bulldozing of 115 hectares of disputed land in Chrung and Kachok villages, Kok commune, Bokeo district, Ratanakiri province. The land belongs to the local […]

Dear friends, The Administrative Court in Thailand has turned down a petition challenging the decision of the Royal Thai Police and its commissioner general to reappoint the five policemen who are allegedly involved in the disappearance of lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit (UP-044-2007). The petition was filed by Somchai’s wife, Angkhana Neelaphaijit, who was also a joint-plaintiff […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) previously reported on an alleged killing of a young man in Kalasin, northeast Thailand, by the police (UA-136-2007). We have so far documented over 20 similar killings and forced disappearances by the same group of officers. In this update we give details of three more of their […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received update information regarding the alleged brutal assault of Mr. Dhanawardena by inmates and trainees of the police training college in Ketapola on 27 March 2006 (please see UA-121-2006and UP-110-2006 for more details about the case). The fundamental rights case before the Supreme Court regarding the torture case of […]

[NOTICE: The AHRC have developed a new automatic letter-sending system using the “button” below. However, in this appeal, we could not include e-mail addresses of some of the Cambodian authorities. We encourage you to send your appeal letters via fax or post to those people. Fax numbers and postal addresses of the Cambodian authorities are attached below […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received important news about the group of Burmese human rights defenders who were attacked on 18 April 2007 with the backing and involvement of local authorities and the police (UA-135-2007). Members of the group have been charged with causing a public disturbance and must appear in […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the recent naming and detention of two more suspects in the ongoing, yet highly unpredictable, investigations into the murder of human rights activist Mr. Munir Said Thalib. Mr. Munir died of arsenic poisoning during the course of his journey aboard a Garuda […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that the teacher who was charged with assaulting a student has yet to be suspended from his post. In addition, the teacher has allegedly attempted to pressurize the student victim and his family. The AHRC reported the original incident; please refer UA-414-2006 for background information. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information about the alleged unnecessary amputation of Ms. Citthi Naseera’s leg by a surgeon at the Negombo General Hospital on 1 March 2005. The AHRC reported the original incident and posted several updates on this case. Please refer UA-67-2005; UP-51-2005; UP-56-2005 for background information. We were informed that […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed by the Working Group on Justice for Peace that the inquest into the deaths of 78 persons in army custody in Narathiwat, southern Thailand in October 2004 has heard that the victims all died from asphyxiation. However, there were other injuries on the bodies […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is happy to inform you that Advocacy Forum, one of the leading human rights organizations in Nepal providing legal aid services to detainees, now feely accesses to prisoners at the Kanchanpur detention centre.  Advocacy Forum, had been refused access to prisoners at the centre since 7 February […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about yet another brutal attack on the protesters of the National Liberation Unity Party (PAPERNAS) by fundamental groups in Jakarta on 28 March 2007. The protesters was about to hold a demonstration against the government’s Foreign Investment Bill, which has been passed at the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information about the custodial death of Mr. Sajedur Rahman Sarkar Sajid (please see UA-190-2006 and UP-147-2006). We were informed that the Bangladesh authorities have recently changed the investigation officer (IO) of the case for the sixth time, while none of the previous investigators have completed the investigation […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission is pleased to inform you that on Monday, 2 April 2007, the criminal charge against a man who satirised state media in Burma was dropped by the local court. U Thein Zan was released to the applause of a large number of supporters and well-wishers. It appears that […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed by the Working Group on Justice for Peace that the post mortem inquest into the deaths of 78 persons in Narathiwat, southern Thailand in October 2004 is going on in Bangkok. We urge all persons who are able to attend the court as observers […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information about the alleged subsequent pressure to teenage torture victims Alagiyawadu Lakmal Chathuranga and L.P. Pradeep Kumarage, who were tortured in a most inhuman and degrading manner by the Ambalangoda police on 7 August 2004. The victims were released on 9 August 2004, and […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is pleased to inform you that another farmer in Burma who was jailed for complaining against local officials has been released after her sentence was commuted. Daw Khin Win had appealed to a higher court against her conviction for supposedly making false complaints about local officials’ wrongdoing. […]