Administration of justice

INDONESIA: Escaped prisoner re-arrested and tortured to death by police officers in the Sigi Police Station, Central Sulawesi

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding Mr. Sutrisno alias Lahido (35). In the Sigi Police Station, (Polres Sigi), Central Sulawesi province, Mr. Sutrisno was tortured to death. He had surrendered peacefully and was very cooperative. Eight police officers have been detained by the Provost and Security unit (Propam), Central […]

SRI LANKA: Intellectually challenged, fourteen year old boy, tortured by Galaha Police

Dear Friends, Dilesh Rukmal Anthony, 14, of No: 08 /1, Wariyagala, Nilambe in the Gampaha District, is a student in grade 09 A at the Gurukelle Nilambe Maha Vidiyala School–Sinhala Medium. On 24 January 2017, three teachers at the school accused Dilesh of assaulting another student. He was directed to go to the Galaha Police […]

SRI LANKA: Man killed by police officers in the Headquarters of the Gampaha Police Station

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about Mr. Sunanda Dias, a resident of No: 31, Niwandama, Ja-Ella, in the Gampaha District. He was extra-judicially killed on 04 November 2016, by officers attached to the Gampaha Police Station. No proper investigation has been carried out as yet. This is justice denied […]

WORLD: Malaysian human rights defender Lena Hendry convicted of screening human rights documentary

Dear Friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward an appeal from Amnesty Itnernational, regarding the Malaysian human rights defender Lena Hendry who has been convicted by the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate Court for the private screening of the documentary “No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka”. She faces up to three […]

MYANMAR: Family of sexually assaulted girl killed by a solider seeks remedy

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a local partner organization, the Association of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters, that a 22-year-old girl had been sexually assaulted and killed by a soldier in Pandaung township, central Burma in September 2016. Despite the soldier admitting to the murder at a police […]

SRI LANKA: Man killed by police officers in the Paliyagoda Police Station

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about Mr. Chadik Shyaman Wickramarachchi (42), a resident of Rakgahawatte in Biyagama in Gampaha District. He had been extra-judicially killed on 25 February 2017, by officers of the Paliyagoda Police Station. As there has been no proper investigation carried it remains a denial of […]

INDONESIA: Local community attacked by police after protesting against the Adidaya Tangguh Company

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding human rights violations committed by police officers and the Adidaya Tangguh Company in North Moluccas province, Indonesia. The pattern of violations is one of land confiscation, deprivation of liberty and a vicious attack against local community members on Taliabu Island. Substantial members of […]

SRI LANKA: Life of human rights defender under threat

Dear Friends, S.C. Prasanka Fernando of No. 105, Independent Mawatha, Veyangoda, in Gampaha District, a human rights activist, and Sri Lankan Roman Catholic, who is an announcer by profession, underwent an ordeal at his residence on 05/02/2017. A group of police officers in civil attire, which included Sergeant Dissanayake and S.K. Dissanayake, Officer in Charge […]

PAKISTAN: Racial profiling of Pakhtuns to be condemned

Following a suicide attack on Lahore’s Mall Road on February 13, which claimed the lives of at least six police officials, Punjab’s law enforcement agencies launched a province-wide crackdown on the ethnic Pakhtun (Pathans) minority. Administrative officials in some Punjab districts issued informal orders asking the population to keep an eye on suspicious individuals who […]

AHRC TV: Blast outside Pakistani court kills 8 and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 160

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where two blasts occurred outside a court in Charsadda, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province on Monday. At least eight people were killed and 20 injured in the attack. Since the beginning of 2017, Pakistan has witnessed an unprecedented spike in violence, with 20 terrorist attacks claiming the lives of more than […]

AHRC TV: Adem Carroll speaks about Burma’s Rohingya and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 159

This week Just Asia begins by speaking to Adem Carroll, the Burma Task Force director for New York and UN programs regarding the dire situation faced by the Rohingya in Burma. Carroll calls for an independent commission of inquiry into the military abuses against the Muslim minority group. He also says that citizens of ASEAN […]

NEPAL: Elderly couple thrown out of their makeshift abode

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Jagaran Media Center (JMC) that an elderly couple who have been living in a makeshift house below the Dr. K.I. Singh bridge of Pokhara Kaski District have been forcefully thrown out by the Local Area Development Committee and members of local Mothers’ […]

PHILIPPINES: Statement of the National Fact Finding Mission on the HTI tragedy

A Statement from National Fact Finding Mission forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission In light of the apparent information blackout concerning the fire that devoured the House Technology Industries main building (HTI) inside the Cavite Export Processing Zone, various labor institutions and people’s organization initiated a National Fact Finding Mission to probe the extent […]

PAKISTAN: Government outsources justice dispensation

It is unimaginable for any democratic, law-abiding society to outsource its key function of justice. And yet, the Government of Pakistan first outsourced the dispensation of justice to the military, and now to the Panchayat and Jirga, which are known for aiding and abetting grave human rights abuses, and are the primary cause of rising […]

नेपाल: नेपालमा किन हुन सकेन मानवअधिकार संस्कृतिको विकास

Article | Nepal | 09-02-2017

घनश्याम चम्लागाई तथा चेतनाथ चौलागाईं  १) विषय प्रवेश नेपालमा तत्कालीन नेपाल कम्युनिष्ट पार्टी माओवादीले २०५२ सालमा जनयुद्धको घोषण गरे पश्चात् सरकार र युद्धरत दुबै पक्षबाट शसस्त्र द्वन्दमा गैर न्यायिक हत्या, बेपत्ता, सार्वजनिक, भौतिक संरचनाहरु ध्वस्त पार्नेलगायतका गम्भीर मानवअधिकार उलङ्घन र मानवता विरुद्धको अपराधहरु भएका छन् । २०६३ मंसिर ५ मा तत्कालीन नेपाल सरकार र नेपाल कम्युनिष्ट […]

AHRC TV: Thai court extends detention of student activist in secret hearing and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 157

This week’s episode of Just Asia begins with Thailand, where the Khon Kaen Provincial Court on Monday, during an in-camera hearing, granted permission for police to extend the detention of Jatuphat ‘Pai’ Boonpattaraksa. A law student and key member of the New Democracy Movement (NDM), Jatuphat was arrested on lese majeste charges for sharing a […]

NEPAL: Revamp transitional justice legislation before extending tenure of Commissions

The mandate for The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) is fast approaching their end. With February 9 as a deadline to complete work, only a week left in hand, bringing confusion not only to Commission members, but also conflict victims. The Commissions were established two […]

INDIA: Stop state-led hounding of Bela Bhatia, other human rights defenders

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about continuing attacks on Human Rights Defenders in Chhattisgarh, India. In the most recent case, around 30 goons attacked Bela Bhatia, an internationally renowned activist and researcher, in her home in Bastar and threatened her to leave the area immediately. They left only after […]

NEPAL: Police illegally arrest Indian citizen residing and working in Nepal

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information that 24-year-old Arbind Kewat (Sahani), residing in Jhumka village of Rupandehi District, and working as a motorcycle mechanic at Amawa Chowk of Amawa Village Development Committee (VDC) has been illegally arrested by the police while he was eating a snack with two of his friends. […]

INDIA: Another Adivasi student suicide marks Rohith Vemula’s death anniversary

Article | India | 18-01-2017

by Avinash Pandey Rohith Vemula’s suicide a year ago shook the country. The circumstances of his death left no doubt that it was an institutional murder committed through continuous harassment, and not a simple suicide. It exposed how the culture of caste discrimination was alive and kicking in Indian campuses despite being outlawed by the […]