Arbitrary arrest & detention

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that a man who was abducted by soldiers, tortured and held incommunicado for over three months remains in detention over questionable charges. After abducting him on January 9, 2009, the soldiers tortured him to confess his involvement to the bombing and burning of […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) regrets to have to inform you of yet another case of gross injustice and denial of human rights in Burma through that country’s “injustice system”. In this case, two elected parliamentarians have been sentenced to 27 years in jail each for organizing a group of their peers […]

Dear Friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to inform you that the three human rights defenders who are leading a campaign against the operation of a nuclear power plant in the province of Bataan, have received threatening messages on their mobile phones. The threats began when they started assisting three other campaigners […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that as people around the world gathered to observe the UN day in support of torture victims, Inter-Service Intelligence agents in the north of Pakistan were fatally torturing a young man in their custody. The case has increased tensions between the police in Gilgit, […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes with deep concern regarding the safety of three Human Rights Defenders, who are grassroots labour leaders that advocate protection of labour rights. The three persons have been the object of continuing threats, intimidation and surveillance by soldiers in their village for defying the former’s demand to […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to inform you that a man falsely accused by police of being a drug dealer, was arrested and detained twice to force him to confess. The policemen burned his hand with a lit cigarette and repeatedly assaulted him inside the police station in Cilegon City. […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been closely following the case against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and three other persons since their arrest in May 2009, which is a clear product of what has been described as Burma’s ‘injustice system’. In this appeal we give some basic details of the case […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information that a student activist has been arrested by members of a military intelligence agency, and his whereabouts are still unknown. Another female student has been fined and sentenced to three years in prison on sedition charges by the Anti Terrorism Court for heading a demonstration […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you of the arrest of three human rights defenders. At the time of the arrests no warrants were produced. They were arrested on 27th May 2009 in Samal, Bataan. The three, who have been campaigning against the possible renewed operation of a nuclear power […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that after a four-year-long post mortem inquest, a provincial court in Southern Thailand has absolved all officials and military persons of responsibility for the deaths of 78 persons at Tak Bai, Narathiwat. The court admits that the victims suffocated to death, but […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about an alleged incident of torture involving the Kamburupitiya Police on 5 March 2009. Ramanayakage Nishantha Perera was badly beaten, falsely charged and sent to prison after lodging a complaint against his neighbours during a land dispute. He was not given medical treatment despite […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man was kept in illegal custody for seven days and tortured extensively and severely by the Bandaragama police to make him confess to a theft that he did not commit. He was badly beaten, hung up and kicked, and had chili juice […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Human Rights Alert (HRA), a human rights organisation based in Imphal, Manipur state, concerning the threats to life faced by the a witness to torture and murder, committed by the Assam Rifles. On 16 May the Assam Rifles arrested Mr. Pebam Gunendro […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that twelve men were illegally arrested and tortured while in detention at the Kotowali police station in Jessore district. Two of the detainees’ hands were broken as a result, and no arrangement of medical treatment has been made the by authorities. No attempt has been […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information that six members of a family, including three women and one young girl, were arrested on the instructions of a member of the Punjab provincial assembly (and Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N) in retaliation for a love marriage. All have been tortured severely by police in custody, […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that two peasants have been arrested under fabricated charges the day before their long awaited court case against a local criminal. The criminal, who abducted one of the peasant’s brothers, beat his family members and is known for illegal land grabs, has close ties with […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that two men were detained for four days by the police without charge or legal record, and beaten severely each day to elicit bribes. The men were then confronted with fabricated charges and released only after they paid large fines. The debt has caused one […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that two indigenous Papuans have died and three others have been injured after the unrestrained use of lethal fire arms by the Mobile Brigadier (Brimob) Unit of Papua Regional Police on 9 April 2009 in Abepura, Papua, Indonesia. The wounded were arrested and taken to […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the detention and abduction of Sinnavan Stephen Sunthararaj, a human rights defender based in Jaffna, in Sri Lanka’s north, and is gravely concerned for his safety. Sunthararaj was abducted at gunpoint in front of his family by uniformed men less than three […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that four children were illegally arrested under the blasphemy laws on January 28, 2009. They are in dangerous health conditions in the jail and their parents are not allowed to visit them according to jail policy. One, Mohammad Irfan son of Mukhtar Ahmed, 15 […]