Extrajudicial killings

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that a farmer leader who had been the object of an overt surveillance and continuing threat had been shot dead on 15 May 2008 in Davao City. The victim, who had been receiving threats from December 2007, had tried to escape from […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that prison guards at the central prison in Burma allegedly opened fire on prisoners on 2 May 2008 at the time that the recent cyclone hit the country, killing 36 and injuring around 70. Another four prisoners were also allegedly tortured to death afterwards […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM, a local human rights organisation from West Bengal, India about the murder of a 14-year-old boy by the Border Security Force (BSF) took place on 24 December 2007. However, no investigation has been conducted like many other similar cases committed by BSF. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information from the Legal Aid Institute of Surabaya (LBH Surabaya) that autopsy reports confirmed that four persons died due to gunshots. Several others were injured due to shooting by naval officers. Questions have been raised on the fairness of the trial and possibility of […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Human Rights Alert (HRA), a human rights organisation based in Imphal, Manipur about the murder of Mr. Longjam Uttamkumar Singh who was gunned down by armed persons in civilian dress on the 29 March 2008 in Imphal, Manipur district. Following the killing, the […]

What if some one says that and asks you to disprove it?  Or, if a whole society or even a large part of it begins to believe in fact that two and two is five.  This may be dismissed by some as pure fantasy.  However, in many matters regarding society, particularly in matters relating to […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed by the Working Group on Justice for Peace (WGJP) that a man was shot dead and another was reportedly tortured after being arbitrarily arrested on 18 March 2008 by military task force in Southern Thailand. The relatives of the arrestee witnessed several bruises and […]

According to recent press reports about 79 persons, both from the political arena and law enforcement agencies were killed in Karachi, Sindh province, during this month alone (March), when the assemblies of the different provinces are under the process of their installations. The media is terming these killings as ‘target killings’ which started just after […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM, a local human rights organisation in West Bengal, India, regarding the case of death of a man by the Border Security Force (BSF) on 10 December 2007. The officer reportedly threatened the victim’s family not to lodge any complaints. Meanwhile, the officer […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed of the death of a man in a military camp in southern Thailand on 21 March 2008. Five other arrestees were transferred to another camp after this incident. The AHRC calls for a thorough police investigation and prosecution of those responsible. CASE DETAILS: According […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM, a local human rights organization in West Bengal, regarding the alleged fake encounter killing of a man by the Border Security Force (BSF) in West Bengal on 31 December 2007. From the victim’s arrest until the time of his death many legal […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is shocked to learn that a labour leader who survived an earlier attempt on his life in April 2006 was shot dead this morning, March 10. Gerardo Cristobal (a.k.a. Gerry) was driving his vehicle when armed men riding in another vehicle open fired at him soon after […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Centre for Social Development (CSD), a human rights organisation based in Manipur, India regarding the murder of Mr. Mohammad Qudur Ali. Ali was reportedly killed on 7 February 2008 by the Manipur Police after being taken into custody near the office of […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned that despite calls from human rights defenders and organisations across Asia and around the world, still the justice ministry in Thailand has not reversed its decision to transfer responsibility for protection of witnesses in human rights cases under its control back to the police. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the extra-judicial killing of 13 men by the authorities in Sahiwal district, Punjab province on 10 February 2008. Police appear to have carried out the murders in the guise of an ‘encounter killing’. Their bodies were immediately buried without autopsies having been done […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is aggrieved to share the news of the continuing extrajudicial killings of civilian men, women and even children in Sri Lanka. A claymore mine targeted at a bus carrying civilians, most of whom were school children, killed 6 civilians and 12 children in Thatchanamadhu in the Mannar […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that eight people, including a four year old girl and a pregnant woman, were killed by soldiers on the pretext of a “legitimate encounter” in a coastal village in Maimbong, Sulu on 4 February 2008. The soldiers claimed the shooting was supposedly in […]

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 […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that a Thai paramilitary unit allegedly opened fire on a party of six Cambodians gathering rattan liana in the forest on the border of the two countries this December 12, killing one and wounding another. Forestry officials in Thailand had reportedly called the unit to […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is saddened to inform you that yet another list of killings and disappearances for the month of November 2007 has been reported in Sri Lanka. While the conflict has been going on, it is the citizens who have been affected and who live in fear of threats […]