Freedom of assembly

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the continuous persecution of human rights defenders in Gilgit and Baltistan, the occupied lands by Pakistan. Mr. Baba Jan and his associate Mr. Iftikhar Hussain were sentenced for the second time for life imprisonment by an Anti Terrorist Court (ATC) in Gilgit, […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that nine human rights defenders from Gilgit-Baltistan, including the President of the Supreme Appellate Court, Bar Association were charged for sedition for holding a protest in front of the office of United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) at Gilgit. […]

Here are the headlines for this week’s episode of AHRC TV’s Weekly Roundup: Calm before another storm in Hong Kong? Government and student leaders agree to talks. UPDATE: THE GOVERNMENT HAS CANCELED TODAY’S TALKS WITH STUDENTS IN HONG KONG, SAYING THAT THE STUDENTS’ REFUSAL TO ACCEPT ANYTHING LESS THAN FREE AND OPEN ELECTIONS WAS “AGAINST […]

by Jack Clancey During this past week, Central was occupied by thousands of demonstrators, as was Admiralty, Wanchai, Causeway Bay, and other parts of Hong Kong. The key question being asked is: What needs to be done to end the demonstrations? One of the two key demands of the leaders of the Occupy Central movement […]

As protests in Hong Kong continue, there are growing fears of a crackdown. But the use of force would not work as it would ruin people’s trust in good governance, human rights lawyer Basil Fernando tells DW.  Despite fear of an escalation, pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong remained peaceful on Wednesday, October 1, as China […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to express grave concern about the arrest, interrogation, and harassment of four academics and three students during a public lecture on 17 September 2014 at Thammasat University in Bangkok. This is the latest in a series of actions by the authorities in the four months since the National Council […]

Burma is the focus of the 44th episode of AHRC TV’s Weekly Roundup. In this episode, AHRC TV talks to Mr. Kyaw Swar Swe, Director, Myanmar Institute for Democracy, Mr. Tun Hlaing, a Burmese lawyer, and Mr. Min Lwin Oo, a rights defender. The programme includes reports on the 10-year prison sentence for Burmese human […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission has received shocking reports of journalists having to face the worst ordeals possible, during the course of the year 2014. Four journalists and five of their supporting staff have been killed by “un-known” persons and more than 38 journalists were attacked and injured by the police and mostly by those […]

Police in the Mandalay region of Burma shot farmers who were protesting their land having been grabbed by the military. The protest, which took place this morning (14th August 2014) involved the farmers ploughing the fields that had been taken from them. The farmers are from Nyaung Wine Village, Singu Township, Mandalay Region. Over 6,000 […]

On the 4th of August, a meeting for the families of disappeared persons, held at the Centre for Society and Religion in Colombo, was disrupted by a mob of people led by several Buddhist monks. The families, who had travelled from Mannar, Mullaitivu, Killinochchi, Vavuniya, and Jaffna, had also visited the International Committee of the […]

Shortly before the end of his seven month term and following the Peshawar Church bombing last year which left more than 100 people dead, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani, in a case suo motu (  of his own accord) on the 19th of June 2014 , issued a landmark judgment concerning the rights of […]

Attached Communication was issued under the hand of the Director of National Secratariat of NGOs, an arm of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) recently. The MoD does not enjoy any specific legal authority under any statute whatsoever to control  freedom of speech and association of citizens,  who act collectively through civil society organisations. In the […]

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to six Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers Special Rapporteur on Torture Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Peaceful […]

At approximately 10 am on May 24, 2014, the National Peace and Order Maintenance Council (NPOMC, formerly NOMC) issued Order No. 5/2014 broadcast on the radio and television demanding that 35 persons report themselves to the Army auditorium at Thewet Road by 4 pm on May 24, 2014. At 9 pm on May, the NPOMC […]

The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, interpreted the much talked about blasphemy law in a timely and appropriate manner. He made an observation in a sou moto case of the desecration of places of religion belonging to the minorities, that there should be thorough and impartial investigations into complaints of blasphemy so that […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the arbitrary arrest and the torture of two Papuans participating in a peaceful protest. The protesters are reported to have been electrocuted and beaten while being transported to the Jayapura police station in a police truck. They have been forced to sign a […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that brick kiln owners, with the patronage of the Punjab provincial government, have been holding children, women, and men in illegal detention. Women who have been demanding compliance of the minimum wage and social security have been beaten, their clothes stripped, and their children […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the court has rejected the appeal of the 21 remaining detainees who sought the reversal of the decision by the lower court rejecting their petition for bail. UPDATED INFORMATION: (from the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) and Asia Monitor […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that two of the 23 detainees, one of whom is a minor, were released on bail on February 8. The AHRC welcomes the granting of bail and the release of these detainees; however, it notes with apprehension that 21 others remain in detention. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes with deep concern regarding the continued detention of 23 persons, composed of labour leaders, garment workers and others, whom police and military arrested in separate incidents on the 2nd and 3rd January, 2014, for holding protests demanding an increase of the monthly minimum wage to USD160 […]