Extrajudicial killings

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) express its deep concern that a security guard who shot dead a farmer has not been arrested despite being identified. The incident occurred four months ago. The victim was with other farmers who were harvesting crops on a disputed land they were cultivating when they were prevented […]

Two days after the announcement that martial law had been put in force was made on May 20th, a military junta, named the National Order Maintenance Council (NOMC), led a coup and subsequently installed itself as the government of Thailand. Over the course of the six months of anti-government protests, twenty-eight people had been killed […]

The world is once again shocked by the news of the stoning to death of a 25-year-old pregnant woman, Farzana Parveen Iqbal, in Pakistan. The stoning took place before the Lahore High Court where she had attended due to a summons. The stoning was carried out by 20 members of her own family including her […]

Civil Society Women’s Organisation 29 May 2014 Shillong, Meghalaya The Civil Society Women’s Organisation (CSWO), an anti-corruption and women’s rights organization, Shillong, is deeply concerned of widespread torture by police leading to deaths including deaths in custody and other similar human rights violations in Meghalaya. Ordinary people are often helpless in the hands of such […]

FOCUS ON RIGHTS Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, The Sunday Times, May 25th 2014 It would be a fair guess to say that not even the most perceptive amongst us could have predicted the extreme degeneration of the police service and most unfortunately, the country’s judicial institution, in post-war Sri Lanka. Taking the road less traversed This week, […]

Demands a Commission of Inquiry covering at least last three years May 24, 2014, 7:24 pm The Standing Committee of the Rule of Law of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka has issued a strong statement condemning the death of criminal suspects in police custody saying that the “acceptance of such blatant manifest untruths has […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding a young man of the age of 17 who was illegally arrested by officers from the Kandaketiya police and severely tortured along with his brother and another family member. Despite appeals by his parents and lawyers the Magistrate who heard the case presented […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Civil Society Women’s Organization (CSWO), an anti-corruption and women’s rights organization based in Shillong, Meghalaya regarding the custodial death of an 18-year-old youth Mr. Balsan S. Marak. Balsan was arrested under dubious circumstances on charges of kidnapping and torture of women on 13 […]

Series of deaths of persons in police custody as suspects regarding the commission of criminal offences is of serious concern. The identical explanations given by the police regarding each such case of death while in custody and acceptance of such blatant manifest untruths has made a mockery of the system of administration of justice in […]

A 17-year-old boy named, P.H. Sadun Mallinga, from Atturukudua, Megahakiula, was arrested with his brother and brutally assaulted by a group of policemen from the Kandaketiya police without any reason. He died at the remand prison due to the severe injuries he suffered by the assault. He died in his brother’s arms. Now the brother […]

Today the AHRC releases the 28th Episode of the Human Rights Asia Weekly Roundup. In this week’s programmewe report on encouraging new legislation in Sindh Province in Pakistan, banning child marriage under 18-years of age. We show disturbing footage of police torture in Jammu and Kashmir with a report of India’s “gangsters in uniform”. Also in India, […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a 65-year-old Ahmadi was shot dead in a police lockup. The victim was arrested on charges of Blasphemy without legal process. He remained in the police lock up for three days without being produced in a court of law. On May 16, the […]

(Note: this article was first published in the May 4, 2014 issue of the Sunday Examiner) I am a Filipino but I see myself a Hong Konger. If we are to take the guidelines of Hong Kong Unison, a non-profit organisation advocating for the protection of the rights of ethnic minorities, a Hong Konger is any person […]

The citizens of Pakistan watched a video recording of a police encounter on all the television channels where a man who had been pronounced dead started crying and screaming that he was alive. The police ignored his cries for help and dragged him by the hair into a police van. He was taken to a […]

The killing of senior lawyer, Rashid Rehman, on May 7, 2014 in his office in Multan has once again brought into focus at home and abroad how little the Pakistani state values those who risk their lives for the promotion and protection of fundamental rights for all. Rehman was killed despite having earlier expressed serious […]

White clad people of all ages observing sil; temples full of pious devotees; trees laden with flowers and mounds of jasmine and araliya offered at sacred bo tree and temple alter, scenting the air. Come night and cities that were quiet and white turn garishly gaudy. Pandals light up and stories depicted on them are broadcast too […]

The attempted murder of an anchorperson of a popular media house triggered the open discussion on the role of the ISI in dealing with the freedom of expression and the media as a whole. Indeed, this is not the first occasion that the role of the ISI was brought up as a conspirator in the […]

I held back on writing about the extremely traumatic experience of Naomi Coleman, 37, mental health nurse in Coventry, England. I am very glad I opted to be less than current since I felt I needed other’s opinions before expressing mine. All I spoke with from senior diplomats and retired government officers who held top […]

The rule of law does not exist in Bangladesh. The way the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) abducted seven men, including a senior lawyer and a member of the mayoral panel of the Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC), on 27 April 2014, and murdered them, allegedly on behalf of a feuding faction of the ruling party, in […]

The provincial assembly of Sindh has took the daring lead on 28th April 2014, that deserves appreciation for becoming Pakistan’s first elected assembly to have passed a bill restraining child marriages under 18 years. The passage of the bill has come on the heels of controversy that was triggered after the council of Islamic Ideology (CII) […]