Extrajudicial killings

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission and Odhikar A survivor of torture, relatives of a survivor and of two victims of death, who were tortured to death in police custody, have shared their gruesome experiences in a People’s Tribunal today, June 26, 2013, in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Bangladeshi human rights group Odhikar, in collaboration with the […]

The acting Chief Justice of Sindh provincial High Court, Justice Maqbool Baqar, was attacked and seriously injured this morning in a bomb blast by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The convoy of the senior judge was passing through a crowded market place in Karachi, the capital of Sindh province. Nine persons were killed and fifteen were […]

International Day in support of Torture victims Rights-based organizations, HR defenders vow to synergies efforts to combat Torture LAHORE:(26th June 2013):“The large scale instances of torture in custody is a common practice in Pakistan and there is no law in the country to stop this menace. The Parliament of Pakistan should enact law for criminalization of torture. Govt. […]

(Hong Kong/Padang, Indonesia, June 26, 2013) To mark the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) released an advance version of its special report on practice of torture in Indonesia today. The report titled: “A facade of justice for torture victims in Indonesia”, is the first special […]

A Christian lawyer has been threatened with dire consequences if he continues to provide legal assistance to three Christian women who were stripped naked and paraded on the street by the henchmen of ruling party.  Mr. Mushtaq Gill, the director of LEAD (Legal Evangelical Association Development) organization, is getting death threats from militants. He is […]

An Open Letter by the Asian Human Rights Commission to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Navy Pillay on the occasion of UN International Day In Support of Victims of Torture Ms. Navanethem Pillay United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights OHCHR-UNOG 8-14 Avenue de la Paix 1211 Geneva 10 SWITZERLAND Fax: +41 […]

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission, the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee (CHRAC), the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC), Transcultural Psychosocial Organization Cambodia (TPO) and the Dignity-Danish Institute Against Torture on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (Click here for Khmer version) As part of their concerted attempt to combat […]

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the occasion of the International day in support of victims of torture. On the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to express its solidarity with the survivors who are still dealing with the consequences of the torture […]

The UN International Day in Support of Torture Victims will be observed in Pakistan with a pledge to struggle to eliminate torture from society. Two seminars will be held on this occasion, as well as demonstrations against torture committed by law enforcement agencies, including the armed forces. Human rights activists will urge the government to […]

In India, death has a myriad ways to prey on hapless children and sniff the life out of them. Often, it has rather trustworthy accomplices: the union and state governments. Take but one way it strikes, killing more than a thousand each year. Since 1978, when it first struck, it has never failed to collect […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Odhikar that Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-11 indiscriminately opened fire in front of a mosque after midday prayers on Friday 1 March 2013. The incident occurred in Mutubi village of Sonaimuri upazila in the Noakhali district. This resulted in the extra-judicial murder of a […]

“It was in her fate to die this way”, these shameful words were said by a mother after she threw acid on her own daughter. These are the words used commonly by many families in Pakistani society in order to justify their actions and take shelter in this orthodox society. This incident took place in […]

The Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Vass Gunawardena is now in remand custody while an inquiry into the conspiracy to murder a businessman for pay is ongoing. Even as he is being interrogated he was reported in the television network, Suwarnawa Hini, in its programme on Mulpituwe (Front Page, which is a commentary on […]

During the first four months of the year 2013 no restraint was observed on the part of the military in their actions. Abductions by unknown persons, disappearances and extrajudicial killings continue unabated in the war torn zone of Balochistan province. During the months from January to April, according to the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received detailed information about a case brought by the army in Burma against a man who lodged a complaint over the death of his daughter. According to the complaint of BrangShawng to the national human rights commission, his teenage daughter was killed when a soldier shot […]

From the early ages in Pakistan women have lived in a society which is anti-women where they are treated as unwanted creatures. Pakistan is a country where violations against women are the highest and conditions become even more alarming as women are discriminated against on the basis of gender even before birth. Women in Pakistan […]

The police allegedly demanded Rs. 500,000/= for the release of a young man but as the amount was not paid on time he was tortured severely which resulted in his death. A young man of 18 years died in police custody after being tortured in a private torture cell run by the police. However the […]

Kainat Soomro was violently gang-raped by four men in the rural village of Dadu in southern Pakistan in 2009 when she was 13 years-of-age. As typically happens in Pakistan, rather than rush to the young girl’s defence the village elders decreed that she had brought shame upon the village and ordered her family to kill […]

AFAD 15th Anniversary Statement 4 June 2013 – A decade and a half have passed since the founding of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD). Many Asian governments continue the practice of making people disappear while past cases remain unresolved.  While they fail to hold the perpetrators accountable, victims and their families continue to […]

Torture: Asian and Global Perspectives – Volume 2 Number 01, just issued Torture is endemic! Every moment of every day torture takes place somewhere in the world which shows us the gravity of the social destruction and disorder. Having a dream for a torture free society is not an illusion but something that is attached […]