Arbitrary arrest & detention

This week Just Asia begins with the senseless and brutal attack on lawyers in Quetta, Balochistan on August 8. The blast killed 97 persons, including 63 lawyers, and more than 120 persons including women and children were injured. The attack occurred amidst a gathering to pay respects to the assassinated President of the Bar Association. […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding student activists who have been arrested in Thailand. According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), only one day before the referendum, the Thai authorities arrested two pro-democracy activists in Chaiyaphum province, northeastern Thailand, for distributing anti-constitution flyers. CASE NARRATIVE: The Provincial […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been actively following the case of disappearance of human rights defender Ehsan Arjumandi, a dual national of Norway and Iran, who has been missing since August 2009. For the past seven years, after he was picked up by the Pakistani security agencies, the whereabouts of Mr. Ehsan are […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the enforced disappearance of a Baloch publisher and employee of Civil Hospital Karachi, Sindh by plainclothes persons impersonating as state intelligence officers. Since July 26 his whereabouts are unknown. He was offloaded from a passenger a check of passenger identity cards found […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns racism, insults and assaults against indigenous Papuan students in the Papuan students dormitory at the Kamasan I Jalan Kusumanegara, Yogyakarta province, Indonesia. Since Friday morning, July 15, police officers have surrounded and forcibly closed the Papuan students’ dormitory. Inside there were approximately 100 Papuan students. The police did […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that seven transgender persons were arrested and reportedly sexually abused by the Cantonment police in Nowshera, KP Province. They were also kept in illegal confinement for almost 10 hours (whole night) and forced to dance in front of the policemen. The Inspector General […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) regarding the arrest of activists who attempted to exercise their right of expression. On 10 July 2016, the Ban Pong police searched the vehicle of the New Democracy Movement (NDM) activists, and found campaign material about […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that two Christian sisters, with an 18-month baby were taken hostage by the Sarai Alamgir police, Punjab, for the production of their brother, Mr. Nadeem James, who has eloped with a Muslim girl, the daughter of a local Muslim cleric. A Muslim mob attacked […]

Dear Friends, According to the information received by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), Mr. Nihal Aruna Shantha, resident of Kirindivita, Ganemulla in the Gampaha District, was baselessly arrested on 1st July 2016. Having being misidentified as the suspect, he was severely tortured and detained by the officers attached to the Ganemulla Police Station. Later, […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mrs. Maladeniyegedara Padma Irangani and her two sisters were all illegally arrested by the Katugastota police officers, in revenge for Padma complaining and seeking justice from the Deputy Inspector General of Kandy. After Padma complained about her husband’s illegal arrest, Padma and her […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that on 5 July 2016, Mr. Kethesawaran and his wife Savithri, residents of Sivanagar in Oddusuddan, Mulativu have been arbitrarily arrested by police officers attached to the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) and their whereabouts are unknown. The police deny any such arrest, and their […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. L.A.L. Charlis and Mrs. R. Indrani of 271/D, Kattappuwa Galhinna, Ankumbura, Kandy District, were abducted by group of men and later arbitrarily arrested, detained, and tortured by police officers attached to the Weeraketiya Police Station. The victims state that they were subjected […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Shanmugam Selvarajah from Velikkulam in Vavuniya was abducted by an unknown group of persons on 21 June 2016. He was later found near the Settikulam area in Varikuttiyar in Vavuniya. Repeated complaints by relatives to the Vavuniva Headquarters Police Station seeking immediate […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Santhiyogu Anton Dani, a resident of Mannar, was illegally arrested by military officers on 29th June 2016 at St. Peters Church in Mannar. He was continually tortured before being released without any charges and not being produced before a court of law. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Niroshan Chamara Rupasinghe of the Kandy District was tortured by two traffic police officers attached to the Katugastota Police Station on 13th November 2015. Later he was treated at the Kandy Teaching Hospital. Police have filed fabricated charges against the victim alleging […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Velauthapilai Renugaruban, a British citizen who was visiting his relatives in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, has been illegally arrested, detained, and severely tortured by Sri Lankan police officials. He is being accused of aiding and abetting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) […]

Dear Friends, The AHRC has received the following information from its partner organization MASUM in West Bengal. A man, about 21 years of age, was allegedly forcibly picked up by Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB) personnel. He was on Indian land, on his farm near the Indo-Bangladesh border.  CASE NARRATIVE: The victim, Manojit Mondal, aged 21 […]

By Basil Fernando I do not know Poddala Jayantha personally. However, I have felt for several years and still strongly feel that I as a human being, and we as Sri Lankans, owe a serious obligation to him. I remember the first day I heard about the cruel way he was dealt with some 7 […]

See the YouTube Video relating to this article. Journalist, Poddala Jayantha in a moving article, written in Sinhala, recalls his ordeal which took place exactly 7 years ago in the evening of June 1st that shocked the entire nation. A threat which has been made to him by the brother of the then President Mahinda […]

Fifteen-year-old Javaid Hussain was arrested on 11 May 2016 by the Frontier Corps (FC) of Pakistan Army, for allegedly attacking security forces. According to the media, an event was organized in Kurram Agency, Federally Administration Tribal Areas (FATA) to commemorate the birth of Hazrat Ali, son in law of Prophet Muhammad, and several religious scholars […]