Administration of justice

The Asian Human Rights Commission is gravely concerned to have learned that on Sunday, 9 November 2014, the military detained Praphat Pintobtaeng, a lecturer from the Faculty of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University, and three additional people in Chiang Mai who were participating in a walk rally to protest the policy of the National Council […]

The following interview was originally published in the latest issue ( Volume 3 Number 4 & 5)  of Torture: Asian and Global Perspectives ON 25th September 2014, Basil Fernando and the Asian Human Rights Commission was bestowed with the coveted Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the “Alternate Nobel Prize,” for “his tireless and outstanding […]

Recently the President of Burma has been granting amnesty to political prisoners across the country. However, these grants have not reached every case, and do not address some of the most recent issues involving politically motivated mass arrests. Specifically, the government’s newspaper, The Global New Light of Myanmar has published a list of political prisoners […]

“Matters can go to such a head that the SHO (station house officer) would have to bring him (the detainee) chapattis and chicken curry to satisfy him.” Indeed, this is not an obiter dictum by Justice T. S. Thakur. This comment that the Supreme Court judge has made while hearing a case concerning the installation […]

According to a letter written to the Bar Association by the Registrar ( click here to read  the letter ) of the Supreme Court, the President of Sri Lanka has, under Article 129(1) of the Constitution, referred two questions to the Supreme Court for its consideration. The Court has been asked to submit its opinion […]

by Avinash Pandey “Forceful sex on menopausal woman not rape-Delhi High Court” read a news item (title changed now though the URL remains the same) on one media group website. “Delhi High Court Says ‘Forceful Sex’ Wasn’t Rape”, cried another news outlet. Together, the media coverage on the case has opened the floodgates for the […]

A Statement from the Friday Forum  forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Sri Lanka’s foreign policy has recently been the target of much criticism and one can cite a litany of scandals and questionable departures from professionalism and our traditional Non-aligned stance. These are now overshadowed by the glaring lack of principle and consistency recently seen in the First […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the continuous persecution of human rights defenders in Gilgit and Baltistan, the occupied lands by Pakistan. Mr. Baba Jan and his associate Mr. Iftikhar Hussain were sentenced for the second time for life imprisonment by an Anti Terrorist Court (ATC) in Gilgit, […]

Image courtesy: aithiya.lk (Hong Kong, November 03, 2014)  Mayuri Inoka, the wife of a disappeared husband, Madushka Haris De Silva, was herself abducted on 1 November 2014. According to Mayuri, her abductors threatened her not to engage in any activities calling for the recovery of her husband. Mayuri’s husband disappeared in September 2013, and remains missing. […]

A Statement from the UN Human Rights Committee forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) 1.         The Committee considered the fifth periodic report submitted by Sri Lanka (CCPR/C/LKA5/) at its 3098th and 3099th meetings (CCPR/C/SR3098 and CCPR/C/SR3099), held on 7 and 8 October 2014. At its 3126th meeting (CCPR/C/SR3126), held on 27 October 2014, […]

A public petition for signatures for the constitutional reforms, by Ravaya forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission The Alliance of the Opposition should ensure the general public that the Common Candidate it fields for the Presidential Election will carry out the reforms under mentioned within the first three months of his victory. 1. Right for Information The ‘Information […]

Today, AHRC TV releases its milestone 50th episode of Human Rights Asia Weekly Roundup. In this episode, AHRC TV interviews participants from the 3rd annual meeting of the Asian Alliance Against Torture & Ill-treatment (AAATI) to gain perspective on the meeting. In particular, AHRC TV interview: Farooq Hamid Naek, a Senator from Pakistan Eran Wickramaratne, […]

by Basil Fernando It must have been somebody’s idea that judicial independence in Sri Lanka must be destroyed. When the idea was first generated we do not know. It is possible that it arose more or less at the same time as the 1962 coup. Those were wild times for some people who had enjoyed […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that nine human rights defenders from Gilgit-Baltistan, including the President of the Supreme Appellate Court, Bar Association were charged for sedition for holding a protest in front of the office of United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) at Gilgit. […]

by Basil Fernando On the 19th October 2014 BBC Sinhala Service broadcast, the United National Party Member of Parliament Ranjan Ramanayake, complained that there was a plan to assassinate him due to his participation in a televised debate. On air, he had provided details of the information he had received regarding the alleged assassination plan. […]

by Danilo Reyes (Note: this article was first published in the October 12, 2014 issue of the Sunday Examiner) Poverty reflects a failure of the government not the person. Seven years ago, my first cousin, 22-year –old Maricel Mahinay, died from an illness aggravated by severe malnutrition. She was three months pregnant. Her death came […]

by Basil Fernando As the possibility of an election has become a “hot topic” of the day, with it has emerged the problem of the 1978 Constitution and the system of the Executive Presidency, as a sharp point of contest and debate in Sri Lanka. In the midst of this unfolding scenario, President Rajapaksa, in […]

In this week’s episode of the Weekly Roundup, AHRC TV brings you special coverage of the third annual Asian Alliance Against Torture & Ill-Treatment (AAATI) conference that took place recently. Parliamentarians, politicians, and human rights activists from across Asia attended the conference in Hong Kong that was hosted by the AHRC and DIGNITY, Denmark. This […]

by Avinash Pandey They did not speak Kannada, the language of the state they live in. They, therefore, were “legitimate” targets of violence in a city that has benefitted the most from India’s shift from Nehruvian Socialism to free market economy. The fact that they contribute to the city, and the province’s income, meant nothing. […]

As public complaints have begun to emerge about the use of excessive force by some officers of the Hong Kong Police, it is quite in order, to recall the law on the crime of torture in Hong Kong. There is a Specific Ordinance titled, Crimes (Torture) Ordinance (Ordinance Number 427). It is ‘an Ordinance to […]