Death in custody

Thai The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to express our grief and extend our deepest condolences to the family of Mr. Amphon Tangnoppakul, who was found dead in prison custody on 8 May 2012. Amphon (also known to his family as “Ah Kong” or “grandfather,” and to the public at “Uncle SMS”), a 61-year-old man, […]

English 9 พฤษภาคม 2555 แถลงการณ์จากคณะกรรมาธิการสิทธิมนุษยชนแห่งเอเชีย คณะกรรมาธิการสิทธิมนุษยชนแห่งเอเชีย (Asian Human Rights Commission: AHRC) ขอแสดงความเสียใจอย่างสุดซึ้งต่อครอบครัวของ นายอำพล ตั้งนพกุล ซึ่งเสียชีวิตระหว่างอยู่ในเรือนจำ เมื่อวันที่ 8 พฤษภาคม 2555 นายอำพล (หรือที่เรียกในครอบครัวว่า “อากง” และคนทั่วไปรู้จักว่า “อากง SMS”) อายุ 61 ปี ถูกศาลตัดสินจำคุกเป็นเวลา 20 ปี เมื่อวันที่ 23 พฤศจิกายน 2554 ในคดีดำหมายเลขที่ 311/2554 ศาลอาญาลงโทษเขาตามความผิดสี่กระทงที่มีต่อมาตรา 112 ประมวลกฎหมายอาญา และพระราชบัญญัติว่าด้วยการกระทำผิดเกี่ยวกับคอมพิวเตอร์ พ.ศ. 2550 เนื่องจากถูกกล่าวหาว่า ส่งข้อความสั้นทางโทรศัพท์มือถือสี่ฉบับ ไปให้กับ นายสมเกียรติ ครองวัฒนสุข เลขานุการส่วนตัวนายอภิสิทธิ์ เวชชาชีวะ อดีตนายกรัฐมนตรี ข้อความสั้นทางโทรศัพท์มือถือทั้งสี่ฉบับ มีเนื้อหาดูหมิ่นพระราชินีและถือเป็นการหมิ่นพระบรมเดชานุภาพ คณะกรรมาธิการสิทธิมนุษยชนแห่งเอเชียเคยตั้งข้อสังเกตเมื่อครั้งที่มีการตัดสินลงโทษนายอำพลแล้วว่า (AHRC-STM-180-2011) […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the recent ruthless, barbaric, and torturous murder of Mr Abdul Qudoos Ahmad, a school teacher, Ahmadi religious group of Islam. The AHRC calls on the Pakistan government to immediately bring the perpetrators to justice. The level of ruthless barbarity seen in this murder is unacceptable and seldom. It […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the illegal arrest, detention and custodial torture which led to the death of Mr Abdul Qudoos Ahmad, a school teacher and the president of the Nusrat Abad chapter of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat, by the Chenab Nagar police. He was kept in illegal detention […]

The criminal justice system of Sri Lanka is in decline. Across the country numerous reports document that illegal arrests and detention continues to happen indiscriminately. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has issued several hundred urgent appeal cases over the past decade regarding illegal arrests and arbitrary detention in locations across the country. Most, if […]

The successful United Nations Resolution on reconciliation and accountability should pave the way for a new period of commitment to cure the wounds of a long conflict, caused upon individuals as well as on the institutional structure of democracy and the rule of law in Sri Lanka. A responsible approach to dealing with the past […]

The National Human Rights Commission is a specialised statutory body mandated to protect, promote and fulfil human rights. Set up by virtue of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, the NHRC is the result of India’s pre-emptive commitment to United Nations General Assembly resolution 48/134 of 20 December 1993, also known as Principles relating […]

By Nilantha Ilangamuwa Our lives are spinning out from world to world; the shapes of things are shifting in the wind. What do we know beyond the rapture and the dread?- Stanley Kunitz* “They finished off my husband after two days of torture, and then took me to Hambantota where a number of women were […]

The suicide of police officer, P G Haridath, on 15 March 2012 brings again to the limelight, issues that adversely affect criminal investigations in India. Haridath was an Additional Superintendent of Police working in the Central Bureau of Investigation. It is reported that the deceased officer was investigating the infamous Sampath murder case in Kerala […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following press release from [Name of the Organisation/Media]. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Press Release from Lawyers for Democracy forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) 13th March 2012 ‘Lawyers for Democracy’ (LfD) is gravely concerned with […]

The murder of an Indian Police Service officer Mr. Narendra Kumar on 8 March in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh has again brought to light the criminal nexus between the mining mafia operating in the country and their patrons in power who have political interests. The young, 2009-batch police officer, stationed as the Sub-Divisional Police […]

Freedom of expression is one of the essential pre-requirements for the practice, protection and promotion of democracy. If we are to speak of a democratic Pakistan we need to examine, whether the media is free. Each and every day media professionals are facing threats of kidnapping or murder for telling the truth. The truth about […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Nervazhi, a human rights organisation based in Kerala, concerning the case of custodial death and police torture of a person by a police officer stationed at Anthikkad police station. It is reported that, the police officer in civil dress, chased the victim while […]

”Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” (Who will guard the guardians themselves), said the Roman poet Juvenal in his “Satires” [i]. The phrase has lasted through centuries and cited in different contexts but most importantly in regard to the problem of ensuring that persons and organisations entrusted with performing the functions of the state do so within the legal-constitutional […]

All Sri Lankans will wish that the coming year will not be like the last one and, in fact, that it be different from previous years also, years in which deep insecurity has been prevailing due to the failure of the political system, resulting in serious problems in the legal system. People reduced to powerlessness […]

Sri Skandaraja Sumanan, a twenty eight year old man was taken into custody by two persons in civilian dress who identified themselves as officers from the Police Intelligence Services. He was taken into custody at the junction of Punnaly Kattuwan, in front of a barber shop. He sat between the two officers on their motorcycle […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) today published its 25-page report containing its analyses on what it has observed as the irreparable ‘social and systemic impact’ of the ongoing violations of human rights in the […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 The international community, including leading human rights agencies and organisations, has failed to understand the depth of collapse of rule of law in Sri Lanka and have failed to make any effective intervention in this […]

(Hong Kong, December 9, 2011) Despite signs of political change and the easing of restrictions on freedom of expression in Burma, rights abuses remain “systemic, deeply entrenched and vast in scale”, the Asian Human Rights Commission said today in its annual State of Human Rights in Asia report.   The 17-page Burma report, entitled “From blinkered […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the Occasion of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011 The state of human rights in a country is directly proportional to the extent of justice achieved in that jurisdiction. Justice is not a physically quantifiable concept. It is “truth in action” as held by […]