Administration of justice

[RE: UP-101-2006: BANGLADESH: Judicial Probe Commission ignores specific complaint against the Mohammadpur police; UP-096-2006: BANGLADESH: Court orders supplementary investigation following disputed Judicial Probe Commission report; UP-083-2006: BANGLADESH: Police defy High Court order by continuing to make threats; UP-062-2006: BANGLADESH: Harassment and threats continue towards victim despite a High Court ruling ordering the alleged perpetrators to […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 11, 2006 AS-104-2006 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission THAILAND: DSI director must be sacked and investigated In a May 9 letter to the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Justice in Thailand, the wife of disappeared human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit launched a scathing attack on the work […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 10, 2006 AS-101-2006 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission INDIA: Snail pace progress at the National Human Rights Commission the Commission must accept responsibility The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received a communication from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India on 9 May 2006, informing the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that Gerardo Cristobal, a labour leader who survived an attempt on his life on 28 April 2006, is reported to have been falsely charged with frustrated and attempted murder by the police. It is reported that Superintendent Efren Castro, Imus police chief, filed […]

Why is a police officer the director-general of Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation? The DSI was established under the Ministry of Justice so that it would not be subject to direct control of the police but still have full investigative power in special cases, including those where government or law-enforcement officers may themselves be suspects. […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 3, 2006 AS-092-2006 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) INDONESIA: Flawed state institutions unable to uncover Munir’s killers Close to two years after the death of Indonesia’s leading human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, little has been revealed regarding why he was killed and who was responsible. Local […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that over recent months, members of various Cambodian security forces have in separate incidents shot and injured young women in Phnom Penh, shot dead a villager in Kompong Cham, and wantonly driven a car into a smuggler there, killing him on the spot. The AHRC has also […]

Since it was reported on April 26 that General Sonthi Boonyaratglin admitted that the Thai army and police are using “blacklists” to hunt for alleged insurgents in the south, discussion has turned on how the lists are being made. “One wonders exactly what sort of evidence is needed to have a person put on one […]

The murder of Inspector of Police (IP) Douglas Nimal and his wife, who with several other police officers were making allegations of high ranking police officers being involved in drug trafficking, casts a dark shadow on the capacity of the Inspector General of Police and other high ranking officers to maintain the rule of law […]

Violence is escalating in Sri Lanka, with an attack by a suicide bomber in Colombo on the army headquarters that has seriously injured the army commander and killed many others. In retaliation, the Government of Sri Lanka has ordered air and naval attacks on LTTE strongholds. The international media is announcing a “return to war” […]

[Re: UA-143-2004: THAILAND: At least 84 people killed in Southern Thailand on 26 October 2004; UP-65-2004: THAILAND: A list of the victims of the mass killing in Narathiwat province; Immediate international intervention needed; UP-25-2005: THAILAND: Three generals found responsible for mass killing transferred without penalty] —————————————————— UP-094-2006: THAILAND: Trial opens against 58 accused in Narathiwat […]

(Kandy High Court case number 231/2005); and request for an inquiry regarding it The case of Mr. Chamilla Bandara was taken up yesterday, that is on 25 April 2006 at the Kandy High Court. The accused police officers did not appear for the case. The primary witness, the victim who was allegedly tortured by the […]

Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI) again appears to have lost interest in the case of abducted human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit. After local human rights defenders obtained the cooperation of the Central Institute of Forensic Science to search an area of the Mae Klong River in Ratchaburi Province during late March, the DSI director-general, […]

Dear friends,   Please find a letter written to the international community by a group of Nepali activists being detained in Duwakot Armed Police barracks, criticising the response to King Gyanendra’s public address made on Friday April 21, 2006.   Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong   — To the Ambassadors Of the European Union […]

Today, April 24, Thailand’s daily newspapers reported that members of the People’s Alliance for Democracy were attacked in the northeastern city of Udon Thani. According to the news, hundreds of people stormed a meeting organised to discuss the current political situation and criticise the outgoing prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, and his Thai Rak Thai Party. […]

Dear friends, In February 2006, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wrote to you regarding the death of a man named Yupiter Manek who died on 23 December 2005 due to the alleged torture by the Resort Police Belu, Indonesia (to see the details of this case please refer to: UA-056-2006). The AHRC has now received […]

The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) expresses its deep concern and opposition to the decision of President Rajapakse to unilaterally appoint members to the National Public Service Commission and the National Police Commission, in violation of both the letter and the spirit of the . The justification for this intentional violation of the Constitution is […]

The Sri Lankan president’s direct appointment of commissioners to the National Police Commission and Public Service Commission is a serious setback to the little constitutionalism remaining in the country. These appointments have perverted the independent character of the commissions as established under the 17th Amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution. The root of the commissions’ […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that the Sri Lankan Cabinet has decided to appoint a working committee of judicial officials and lawyers to consider solutions to the problem of court delays in Sri Lanka. A memorandum in this regard was submitted by Justice and Law Reforms Minister, Amarasiri […]

[RE: UA-74-2005: PHILIPPINES: Trial of three men yet to begin after three years; UP-78-2005: PHILIPPINES: Delay in trial due to possible neglect by the court and prosecutor; UP-108-2005: PHILIPPINES: Court commences trial of three men due to pressure following frequent postponement; UP-150-2005: PHILIPPINES: Chief State prosecutor acknowledges the allegations of illegal arrest, detention and torture […]