Enforced disappearances and abductions

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that Mr. Pattani Razeek a well known human rights defender both locally and internationally has been missing since 11 February 2010. The relatives have made complaints to all the relevant authorities including the United Nations. They have provided enough credible evidence to identify […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the bodies of two disappeared persons have been found in a remote area. The bodies bore bullet wounds and marks of torture. Both victims were abducted from Karachi, Sindh province at different times but their bodies were found together 500 kilometers near the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Human Rights Alert (HRA) concerning the case of arrest and subsequent disappearance of yet another person in Manipur. A team of military officers, suspected to be from the 12 Maratha Light Infantry, took Mr. Longjam Suresh, the victim in the case into custody […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a couple is missing after their arrest by police officers from two stations on the instructions of a high ranking police official. The couple was married in a civil court and was declared as Karo Kari (black and blacky, liable to be killed). […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a human rights defender was abducted by the officials of the Frontier Cops (FC) while he was going to attend court proceedings in the session court on December 21, 2010 and has been missing since then. Before his abduction he had told his […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that four disappeared persons bullet riddled and torture marks bodies were found from Balochistan province who were previously arrested by the law enforcement agencies. Their bodies were thrown in different places of Baluchistan and Four more persons were abducted by the Frontier Corps (FC) […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a student leader from Balochistan was abducted from the check post of the Frontier Corps in Quetta while he was returning from an interview for internship at Pakistan Telecommunications, a public sector company. In the campaign of killings of disappeared persons four more […]

Dear friends, Further to our previous appeal, the reading of verdict on the case of Somchai Neelaphaijit was again postponed. The court issued an arrest warrant, as required by the criminal procedure, to compel one the five defendants to appear in court to hear the verdict. But at the same time a petition to declare […]

The phenomenon of forced disappearance is not well understood outside of the countries in which it takes place. Imagine that police take your spouse or relative without observing any protocol for arrest and detention, offering no explanation and no information about where he will be taken. The next day, he is simply gone. Leaks trickle […]

The human rights movement of Pakistan is heartened by the directives of the five-member-bench of the Supreme Court to the Inspectors General of Police (IGPs) to furnish full details of the cases of missing persons registered in their respective provinces. The court also ordered the IGPs to lodge First Information Reports (FIRs) for those cases […]

A Joint Statement by the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) in Indonesia and the Asian Human Rights Commission   On December 23, 2010 the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance entered into force with Iraq becoming the 20th state to ratify the convention on November 23, […]

Dear friends, The thwarting of justice continues in the case of disappeared human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit. Having postponed reading of the verdict in the appeal case concerning the conviction of one policeman from last year, the criminal court has again ordered a further postponement on technical grounds. Meanwhile, the family of the victim is […]

On 21 January 2011 at the Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok, representatives of all parties involved in the criminal proceedings in the case of the 12 March 2004 forcible disappearance of human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit gathered expecting to hear the verdict of the Appeal Court concerning the conviction of one out of […]

Basil Fernando Prageeth Eknaligoda’s wife and a small group of faithful supporters met representatives of the United Nations yesterday on the occasion of the first anniversary of Prageeth’s disappearance. That the family had to meet representatives of the United Nations and not representatives of the Sri Lankan state is symbolic. It is after any hope […]

The case of the disappearance of a master tailor exposes how the army is involved and the weaknesses of the judicial system The Asian Human Rights Commission has received the details of the saga of disappearance of a master tailor who was arrested on two occasions by army personnel and how since October 2001 his […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following press release from the Roshni Help Line. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Press Release from the Roshni Help Line forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) January 18, 2011 PRESS RELEASE “Missing is a step that […]

(Hong Kong, January 18, 2011) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) will send international and domestic observers to attend the reading of the verdict on January 21 in the appeal case concerning the disappearance and presumed killing of human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit, its executive director announced today.  “This is an historic case of tremendous […]

Sofie Rordam Sri Lankan citizens are protected against torture and arbitrary arrest in sections 11, 12 and 13 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka. In addition Sri Lanka has ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture and Cruel and Inhuman Treatment in 1994. While the legislation is there, the effectuation is not. The gap between […]

The parents of Justice Javed Iqbal, a judge of the Supreme Court were killed on Tuesday night in a well guarded area of Lahore. Justice Javed Iqbal is heading a three-member bench which is hearing the cases of disappearances of thousands of missing persons in Pakistan. On Monday, January 10, the day before the killings, […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to draw your attention to the disappearance of a civil servant since 5 November 2010 from Rajpur, Dipayal, Doti District. Two months on, the police have not been able to locate the missing person and it is important that the state continues the search to protect […]