Arbitrary arrest & detention

BURMA: Young woman illegally detained and denied bail after September protests

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been documenting cases of illegal arrest, detention and prosecution since the nationwide protests in Burma last September. In this appeal we give the details of the case of one woman who was abducted and held at a special military camp and later released but again rearrested […]

INDIA: A man remanded in custody without charge

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Prahar, a human rights organisation based in Assam, India regarding the case of Mr. Elento Tripura. Elento was taken into custody from his home on 9 November 2007 for unknown reasons and is now being held in judicial custody. CASE DETAILS: Mr. […]

PHILIPPINES: Yet another activist killed following threats

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed of yet another killing of an activist subsequent to receiving continuing threats on his life in 17 January 2008 in Tagbilaran City. He was in front of a pharmacy buying medicine when one of the two gunmen riding on a motorcycle shot him at […]

PAKISTAN: Prominent lawyer tortured, poisoned in detention; two others held incommunicado

[NOTICE: The AHRC has developed an automatic letter-sending system using the “button” below. We encourage you to send your appeal letters via email, fax or post to those people. Fax numbers and postal addresses of the authorities are attached below with this appeal. Thank you.] Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that the […]

SRI LANKA: Kalutara North police illegally arrested and detained a man

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the illegal arrest and detention of a man by Kalutara North police on 12 November 2007. He lodged a complaint but instead he was detained as a counter measure to harass or frighten him without any inquiry being made into his own complaint. […]

UPDATE (Philippines): Two men illegally held in custody released; one details experience of nauseous and brutal torture

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that the two men illegally arrested and detained by soldiers and paramilitary group have already been released in separate occasions. The victims, Ruel Munasque and Luicito Bustamante, were freed from soldier’s custody after the court granted the petition by their relatives’ for judicial protection. […]

UPDATE (Thailand): Army withdraws order preventing hundreds of people from returning to their homes in south

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that hundreds of detainees in a “vocational training” camps have been released and returned home on 18 November 2007 after the Fourth Army chief, Lt-Gen Viroj Buacharoon backed down and reversed a six-month ban prohibiting them from entering for southern provinces (UP-143-2007). This is […]

CAMBODIA: Two killed; several injured and arrested by force in operation of forced eviction in Preah Vihear

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from reliable sources that a mixed forces composing of civilian and military police and forestry officials carried out an eviction operation against 317 families in O Cheu Teal, Choam Ksarn district, Preah Vihear province on 15 November 2007. In the course of this forced […]

UPDATE (Pakistan): Human rights lawyer in serious condition after he was brutally tortured by the police

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed of the serious medical condition of a prominent human rights lawyer, Mr. Syed Hassan Tariq. He was brutally tortured by the police upon instructions allegedly by the provincial chief minister in Nawabshah, Sindh Province after he was arrested on 8 November 2007. Mr. Tariq […]

SRI LANKA: Illegal arrest, detention and degrading treatment of a couple by the Kandana Police

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a reliable source regarding the illegal arrest and detention of a couple by the Kandana Police who humiliated and harassed them mainly due to racial bias on 26 October 2007. Accordingly, the police visited their house at night, and after searching the premises, […]

GENERAL APPEAL(Pakistan): State sanctioned attack on justices, lawyers and activists challenging the emergency

Dear friends, In addition to what has been widely reported, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the plight of justices, lawyers and activists who had been unlawfully placed under house arrest and detained following the state of emergency in 3 November 2007. The justices and lawyers had been targeted to suppress […]

UPDATE (Thailand): Three vocational training detainees rearrested; police threaten others

Dear friends, Further to our recent update on court orders that at least 300 men in southern Thailand could not be held at so-called “vocational training” camps against their will (UP-123-2007), the police have since rearrested three and threatened others to go back to the camps if they don’t also want to be taken back […]

PHILIPPINES: Activist forcibly taken by soldiers disappear while in custody

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that an activist, Ruel Munasque, who was forcibly taken by soldiers on 24 October 2007, has disappeared while in their custody. Ruel was together with Roger Morales, a farmer, when they were taken by soldiers at a checkpoint in Dumalinao, Zamboanga del Sur. […]

UPDATE (Thailand): Hundreds released from army detention prevented from going home

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned that although over 300 men have been allowed to go free from a number of army camps in the south of Thailand after court orders that they cannot be detained against their will, the army is refusing to let them to return to their homes. […]

UPDATE (Bangladesh): One human rights defender arbitrarily arrested and again implicated into fabricated case

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly condemns the alleged arbitrary arrest, detention and torture of Mr. Jahangir Alam Akash, a journalist and human rights defender based in Rajshahi city, by the personnel of the Rapid Action Battalion-5 in Rajshahi city on 24 October 2007. As a result of the severe torture, the […]

UPDATE (Nepal): Another two cases of torture perpetrated by the same members of the Morang Police

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from reliable sources concerning another two cases of torture allegedly perpetrated by the same three members of the Morang District Police Office, Balram Yadav, Shyam Chaudhary and Rajendra Mehata. CASE DETAILS: Mohammad Jabbar Miya, 19, owns a meat shop at Devkota Chowk, Biratnagar Municipality […]

UPDATE (Burma): More details of deaths during protests emerge

Dear friends, In this general update on events in Burma, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) concentrates on the following topics: – Details emerging of more deaths during September  – Denial of medical treatment for injured persons – Family members of wanted persons taken as hostages – Special concerns over women prisoners For all statements, […]

NEPAL: Three members of the Morang police engaged in serial torture

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from reliable sources concerning two cases of torture allegedly committed by the same perpetrators from the Morang District Police Office in Nepal on 4 and 10 September 2007 respectively. The AHRC has also received another two cases of torture by these persons that it […]

SOUTH KOREA: Mentally handicapped minor kept for 15 days in police custody despite lack of evidence

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from DASAN Human Rights Center, a human rights oranisation in South Korea that a mentally handicapped minor was kept in police custody for about 15 days after her arrest on 30 May 2007. It is alleged that even though the investigating officers failed to […]

UPDATE (Burma): Family and friends of assault victim jailed instead of perpetrator

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) regrets to inform you that the family of U Than Lwin, who was assaulted in June after leading a prayer meeting in Burma for the release of political prisoners, has been jailed instead of the assailant. Four members of the family and five other people have been […]