Administration of justice

BANGLADESH: Investigating officer of a rape case is colleague of the accused

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a police officer raped a woman on 7 October 2008 but due to tardy action by police authorities the officer was able to escape arrest. A colleague of the accused has been assigned as the investigating officer. CASE DETAILS: A man known as […]

PAKISTAN: Three girls handed over to a man who killed his wife on the pretext of honour killing as compensation

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

UPDATE (Indonesia): Court treats torture case as minor offence; police responsible are freed

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the case of Mr. Hartoyo who was tortured and sexually abused in January 2007 in Aceh. The Banda Aceh District Court treated this case as a minor offence and let those responsible go free. UPDATE INFORMATION: Mr. Hartoyo and his partner were […]

UPDATE (Philippines): A man is continuously held for six years without trial

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that a detainee whom we reported previously to have been detained for over two years without charges filed in court has continue to suffer prolonged detention. It was only in October 2005, three years after his arrest and subsequent detention, that he was charged […]

UPDATE (Philippines): Abadilla Five’s petition to review conviction suffers further delay

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you regarding further delays in the conclusion of the Petition for Review on Certiorari that the Abadilla Five has filed. We previously reported that the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) was required by the Supreme Court to submit their comment on the petition; […]

SRI LANKA: The UN Human Rights Committee holds JSC to have violated the rights of a judge

The UN Human Rights Committee in a View expressed under article 5 (4) of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on Civil and Political Rights held that the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has violated the rights of Mr. Soratha Bandaranayake who was dismissed on 7th November 2000. The UNHRC held that by this dismissal the […]

PHILIPPINES: A man falsely charged with terrorism

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that a man, whom a prosecutor had falsely charged for committing acts of terror, has been continuously held in detention for six months to face a trial on an offense that has not been substantially proven. CASE DETAILS: (According to information from the Task […]

SRI LANKA: Alleged assault and ill treatment of a woman by police and jailors

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the ill-treatment of a woman by police officers and jailors in late June 2008. The lady was involved in a private argument with another woman whose husband is a high ranking government officer. This case shows how this officer abused his official position […]

THAILAND: Dismissal of a union leader wearing a protest shirt

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a union leader was dismissed allegedly for wearing a protest T-shirt while outside of work on July 30, 2008. While a protest regarding her dismissal has continued, tens of colleagues who held a protest were threatened with dismissal and suspension. CASE DETAILS: Body […]

UPDATE (Philippines): Lawyers demand adequate action, protection of witnesses

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that a group of lawyers in Mindanao has joined appeals for the authorities to exhaust every effort in solving cases of vigilante killings in Davao City and calling for an end to the killings. Their appeal came days after a police director tried […]

INDIA: An Indian national is shot by BSF forces and falsely imprisoned as a Bangladeshi

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed by MASUM, a local human rights organisation in West Bengal that a man who is an Indian national has been falsely identified as a Bangladeshi citizen in a fabricated case created by the Border Security Force (BSF). He was shot in the left leg […]

PHILIPPINES: Labour department’s complicity in unlawful acts deprives sexually abused workers from creating a union

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that several union leaders and factory workers of a footwear company were illegally terminated when some of their female colleagues exposed their employer’s sexual abuse on them. Their termination had also effectively deprived them possibility from having their union legally recognized. As they […]

UPDATE (Philippines): A police director tries to exonerate officers from responsibility of unsolved cases over lack of witnesses

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that the police authorities, in particular in Davao City, are now trying to exonerate themselves from their continued failure to have each of the vigilante killings solve and effectively prosecuted, by putting the blame on either the lack of witnesses or refusal to […]

UPDATE (Philippines): Over twelve persons murdered separately, including two young boys

Dear friends, The Asian Human rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that vigilante groups have murdered another 13 persons, two of whom are minors, in separate incidents from February 2 to June 13 of 2008.   Of these, ten victims had been murdered in the city of Davao. Investigation into each of these cases has […]

UPDATE (Philippines): Police’ failure to solve “vigilante killings” aggravates murder

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been receiving information continuously that more persons have been murdered recently, including minors and women, on the pretext of “vigilante killings”. The police, once again, instead of thoroughly investigating each of these cases, justified the murders as being due to the victim’s criminal records. UPDATED INFORMATION: (According […]

UPDATE (Philippines): Court to hear case of activists, others falsely charged two years ago

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that the five men, collectively known as the Tagaytay Five, whom we reported to have been missing but were later found in police custody two years ago, will have their petition seeking the dismissal of their case heard tomorrow, July 18. The five […]

CAMBODIA: Police allegedly extort bribes in arrest in Rattanakiri province

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the police allegedly ordered parents to pay a bribe of 150000 riels (US$37.5) each if their sons were not to be arrested after these youths had damaged a party sign in Soeung commune, Bor Keo district, Rattankiri province. On 2 July 2008, they arrested […]

UPDATE (Indonesia): Decree banning religious group must be revoked

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes with deep concern on the issuance of a decree banning a religious minority, Ahmadiyah, from spreading their religious practices by the government on 9 June 2008. The AHRC is concerned that the decree would encourage other Muslim groups critical of them to carry out more attacks […]

CAMBODIA: Unlawful arrest of a newspaper editor in Phnom Penh

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned that Dam Sith, the editor of Moneaksekar Khmer newspaper, was arrested on charges of alleged defamation, insult and disinformation on 8 June 2008. Dam has been facing a criminal lawsuit after his newspaper published an opposition politician’s remarks about the Khmer Rouge affiliation of a government […]

SRI LANKA: Police severely tortures brothers in custody; one now suffers from a psychological disorder

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that two brothers were arbitrarily arrested on suspicion of being terrorists without any concrete evidence in the middle of April 2008 and allegedly tortured by the police. The police did not inform their relatives of the arrest. After suffering torture, one victim is showing […]