Arbitrary arrest & detention

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Weerasinghe Gamage Kularathne is a farmer by profession. On 16 January he was taking some bananas that he had cultivated to market in order to sell them when he was stopped by officers of the Civil Security Force. The officers accused him […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Ms. Balendran Jayakumari and her daughter Vithushaini (13) both were arrested on 13 March 2014, by officers attached to the Kilinochchi Police Station. Jayakumari has been active in the search of disappeared persons, including members of her own family for several years. She […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Yahaluge Wimalasiri (50) of Veliharanawa, Oluganthota, Balangoda in the District of Ratnapura complained to the chairman of the Pradesheeya Sabha for making indecent proposals to his wife. Subsequently he was severely beaten by the chairman’s supporters and then by officers of the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that the police force of Burma has dismissed several officers involved in the torturing to death of a 39-year-old man. Other officers have been either suspended from duty or transferred to different townships. Myo Myint Swe was tortured during interrogation over a murder […]

On 11 March 2014 a presidential commission of inquiry into the latest violence in the far west of Burma, or Myanmar, presented its findings. According to the commission, which is the latest in a series examining violence around the country, numbers of security forces in some areas need to be significantly increased. Highlighting Maungdaw Township, […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Samarasinghe Arachchilage Samantha Dassanayake is a jailor of the Sri Lanka Prison Department attached to the Negombo Prison. He was illegally arrested and detained by the officers of the Seeduwa Police Station who allowed a ward member of Negombo Municipal Council and […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. A.H Ranjith was falsely accused by some neighbours of stealing a quantity of gold, arrested without warrant, illegally detained and brutally tortured by the Acting OIC of the Weligama Police Station. Complaints made to the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission, the Inspector […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information from the Forum for Protection of People’s Rights, Nepal (PPR Nepal), that the Nepal police officers stationed at the Hanumandhoka Metropolitan Police Range (MPR) resumed their torturous call to the Thakur family living in Kathmandu. The family had allegedly been under investigation for […]

Dear friends, Sunil Samaradeera of No: 34/2, Baseline Mawatha, Borella, a human rights activist based in Wanathamulla, in Colombo District was abducted in broad daylight by persons believed to be connected to the Secretary of Defense. On 13 of February Sunil had met with the Secretary, Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, regarding issues concerning a housing scheme […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Forum for Protection of People’s Rights, Nepal (PPR Nepal) regarding frequent and continuous police torture inflicted upon a family throughout the last year. The police from the Metropolitan Police Range Hanumandhoka Kathmandu were involved in torture of a Thakur family living in […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Padang Legal Aid Institute (Lembaga Bantuan Hukum (LBH) Padang) regarding the shooting, torture, and fabrication of charges of two men by the police in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Despite their injuries, the victims have been denied adequate medical treatment as of today. LBH […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that officers of the law enforcement agencies abducted a young activist who was tortured to death in illegal detention. After the incident officers of these agencies threw the tortured and bullet riddled death body near the Bharia Road City Railway Station of District Naushero […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the court has rejected the appeal of the 21 remaining detainees who sought the reversal of the decision by the lower court rejecting their petition for bail. UPDATED INFORMATION: (from the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) and Asia Monitor […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that two of the 23 detainees, one of whom is a minor, were released on bail on February 8. The AHRC welcomes the granting of bail and the release of these detainees; however, it notes with apprehension that 21 others remain in detention. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes with deep concern regarding the continued detention of 23 persons, composed of labour leaders, garment workers and others, whom police and military arrested in separate incidents on the 2nd and 3rd January, 2014, for holding protests demanding an increase of the monthly minimum wage to USD160 […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information on the case of torture against six street singers in Jakarta, who were charged with murder in June 2013. Two of them, Andro Supriyanto and Nurdin Prianto, were found guilty and sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment by the South Jakarta District Court […]

The AHRC releases today the 15th Episode, of the Human Rights Asia Weekly Roundupwith special reports from Cambodia. In this week’s programme we bring you the following stories from across Asia; In Cambodia four persons were killed and many others wounded after police opened fire at protestors demanding an increase of the minimum wage. The AHRC […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that interrogating agencies allegedly fabricated and concealed evidence that are beneficial to Mr. Yu Woo-Sung who was indicted under National Security Act and others. Together with this, the sole statement provided by his sister was also reportedly extracted by inhuman treatment by investigating agents […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Forum for Protection of People’s Rights, Nepal (PPR Nepal) regarding the torture inflicted on a 13-year-old girl and her mother by Nepal police officers at the Area Police Office, Anarmani Jhapa district, the eastern region of Nepal. The police tortured the two […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received the updated information that courts and police did not take any action even though they found that U Than Htun’s death, which occurred while detained in police custody in Burma, was not natural. In the post mortem inquiry, the lower courts decided that the death […]