Arbitrary arrest & detention

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 […]

This week Just Asia begins with Sri Lanka, where five police officers have been arrested in connection with the custodial death of a suspect at the Peliyagoda Police station. The 42-year-old Chadik Shyaman Wickramarachchi was arrested on February 25, following information provided by another suspect. The next day, Chadik’s body was recovered by his family at the Police Mortuary […]

A Statement from United Nations Independent Experts of Human Rights forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission GENEVA (24 February 2017) – United Nations human rights experts* are calling on Bangladesh to act now to halt an increasing number of enforced disappearances in the country. The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances says […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that Pakistan Rangers and police have conducted joint operations against Sindhi political activists after the suicide bomb blast at the shrine of Shahbaz Qalander, Sehwan, wherein 88 persons were killed and 288 were injured. Although ISIS, the international terrorist organization conducted the blast, […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward an appeal from KARAPATAN Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights. For more information, please contact: (+632) 435 4146 Thank you. Urgent Appeals Desk  Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)  ———————————————————————– Political activist illegally arrested after GRP’s “cancellation” of peace talks with the NDFP Dear […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has information regarding the last two years of President Joko Widodo’s administration. It appears that the government has not yet made any effort to resolve past human rights abuses. After President Widodo won the presidential election in 2014, victims and their families had great expectations of him. Instead of […]

Nepal’s police have arrested Dr. Chandra Kant Raut, popularly known as C.K. Raut, after harassing his wife and children from Janakpurdham-4, Macha Bazar, Dhanusha district. More than a dozen police personnel broke the lock of the gate and harassed his wife and children before manhandling and arresting Dr. Raut. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) […]

This week’s episode of Just Asia begins with the UN’s new report detailing mass gang rape, killings and other human rights abuses against the Rohingya by the Burmese military. A team of UN investigators interviewed over 200 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, who told how their children, including a newborn, were trampled or cut to death. […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to inform you about a paper entitled “Kidnapping and Forced Disappearances of Activists in 1997-1998: Who was Responsible?” This paper shows the stagnation of the investigative process. In 2006 the National Commission on Human Right (Komnas HAM) investigated the case and issued a recommendation report. It concerned allegations of […]

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 […]

The government of Pakistan is conspicuously silent on an organised and malicious campaign started by two television channels for inciting hate and violence against activists who are protesting for the recovery of five disappeared bloggers. The campaign was so strong that at one point a strong group of religious fundamentalists attacked the activists who were […]

The Amnesty Intentional has published a collection of poems titled ‘ Silenced Shadows’. It’s a collection of 15 poems and translations of the said poems into all three languages, Sinhalese, Tamil and English. Originally, Amnesty International called for poems on enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka and selected 15 poems for publication. Five of the poems […]

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. […]

Last week, in the High Court of Badulla five police officers and a security officer were sentenced to death for causing the murder of Sadun Malinga, a 17-year-old boy. The boy and four of his relatives had gone to the town for some business when the police suddenly arrested them, beat them in public, and […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where at least 14 bloggers have disappeared since the beginning of January. The government started off 2017 with a crack-down on human rights defenders and bloggers raising their voices on disappearances and extrajudicial killings, particularly in Balochistan. The security establishment there is very sensitive to the construction of the China PakistanEconomic […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the alleged enforced disappearance, in the first week of January, of four human rights defenders from different cities. There are two bloggers, a writer and a professor. All four were pro-active on social media against state atrocities on the issues of disappearances and […]

BANGLADESH: Mahmudur Rahman should be allowed to travel for medical treatment Paris-Geneva-Hong-Kong, December 24, 2016 – Bangladesh’s Supreme Court has so far refused to grant journalist Mahmudur Rahman, recently released from 1,322 days in arbitrary detention, the right to travel abroad for urgent surgery, despite the serious risk of irreversible neurological damage he faces. The Observatory […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence (KontraS), a prominent, national human rights NGO. It concerns the rape of an underage (minor), a 13 year old girl.  Eight people were connected with this action. This includes First Police Brigadier (Briptu) Hery Ismail, a police officer […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the extra judicial killings during custody and enforced disappearance of Sindhi nationalists. The dead body of Mr. Zakir Hussain Bozdar was found. He was missing after his arrest on December 3. A student activist, Sohail Raza Bhatti, was arrested on September 17, and […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the occasion of Human Rights Day This year’s theme for the Human Rights Day is ‘Stand up for someone’s rights today! The statement could not be better suited to what is happening in Pakistan, where human rights defenders are being increasingly targeted for speaking out. Branded […]