Freedom of expression

This week there were a few public discussions on the issue of delayed justice. The ‘Satana’ Programme of Sirasa TV on 1st August 2017 was mainly focused on the issue of delay in justice. On the other hand in another video broadcast on YouTube, a reputed lawyer Nagananda Kodithuwakku, raised series of serious questions of the actual independence of […]

The darker side of Pakistan’s lawyers’ cartel has been exposed in the case of law student Khadija Siddiqui, who was stabbed 23 times by her class fellow, Shah Husain, the son of a senior Supreme Court lawyer. After this horrific attack, Khadija could not find a single lawyer to take up her case. Being the […]

This week, Just Asia begins with the resignation of Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif. The country’s Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz Sharif on July 28, and called for criminal charges to be filed against Sharif and his family. Under the constitution of Pakistan, the prime minister is elected for five years. Until today however, no elected […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to share a video clip of a speech made by Nagahawatte Kodithuwakku, a reputed lawyer on the state of judiciary in Sri Lanka. It is a thought provoking speech that should receive the attention of all who are concerned with serious problems facing democracy, rule of law and human rights in Sri Lanka. Click […]

By Basil Fernando A lawyer practicing in Negombo was abducted on the night of 12 July 2017 and taken to a deserted field. There six persons, two of whom were wearing camouflaged uniforms, beat him thoroughly on his back and his head, threatening him that, “you should not be messing with us,” and “you should […]

This week Just Asia begins with the case of Bangladeshi lawyer and human rights defender Adilur Rahman Khan, who was detained by Malaysian immigration authorities for more than 12 hours at Kuala Lumpur airport last week. Without giving any reasons for the detention, the authorities finally deported him back to Dhaka. Just Asia speaks to […]

There have been repeated outbreaks of cross-Line of Control firing in Jammu Kashmir, with both sides reporting deaths and injuries including of civilians. Heavy weapons are killing innocent civilians, destroying homes, public and private property. The civilians are forced to flee on both sides of the LOC. Kashmiris of both the sides are leading a […]

උප පොලිස් පරීක්ෂක සරත් ප්රේtමචන්ද්රහගේ මරණය කෆ්කානු කතාවකි. එම්. ඉලන්චේලියන් විනිසුරු, ගතවූ දශක කිහිපය තුළ ශ්රීක ලංකාවෙන් බිහිවූ ශ්රේරෂ්ඨතම විනිසුරුවරයෙකි. තවමත් මහාධිකරණ විනිසුරුවරයෙක් වුවද, ඔහු උපරිමාධිකරණ විනිසුරුවරයෙකු වීමට වුව සුදුසු අයෙකි. එය එසේ වූවා නම් ඔහු උපරිමාධිකරණයේ ශ්රේධෂ්ඨ වත්කමක් වනවා පමණක් නොව ශ්රීු ලංකාවේ නීතිය හා සාමය සම්බන්ධයෙන් පවතින සතුට නූපදවන තත්ත්වය රැඩිකල් වෙනසකට භාජනය […]

Justice M. Ilancheliyan is one of the greatest judges to be produced in Sri Lanka for the last many decades. He is still a High Court Judge, but he deserves to be raised to the Supreme Court. If that were to happen, he would be a great asset not only to the Supreme Court, but […]

Avinash Pandey Gopikrishna Durgaprasad, a 25-year-old gainfully employed young man, committed suicide a few days ago in Pune, Maharashtra. With Maharashtra seeing thousands of suicides every year, and being the state with the most farmer suicides annually, Gopikrishna’s death would not have been significant news on its own. What was different about this case though, was that […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly condemns the recent spate of attacks on the Hazara community in Balochistan province. In the most recent incident, four family members belonging to the ethnic Hazara Shia community and their driver were shot dead on July 19, when unidentified gunmen opened fire on their vehicle near Balochistan’s Mastung […]

This week Just Asia begins with India, where the Supreme Court passed a historic judgment last Friday, ordering the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe into the allegations of ‘fake encounters’ by uniformed personnel in the conflict ridden state of Manipur. To ensure an impartial investigation, the Court ordered that no member of the Manipur […]

DIG Lalith A Jayasinghe was arrested and is now being remanded for harbouring an offender and aiding the escape of the chief suspect Swiss Kumar, for the gang rape and the murder of 18 year old Sivaloganathan Vidya on 13 May 2015. The DIG is suspected of having committed an offence punishable under Section 209 […]

A Statement from ODHIKAR on the detention of Detention of Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan at KLIA, Malaysia forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission At approximately 11:00 pm (Bangladesh time), on 19 July 2017, Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and Secretary of Odhikar, boarded a Malaysian Airlines flight, MH […]

An interview with J.C. Weliamuna, President’s Counsel, Eisenhower Fellow, former Member of the Transparency International Global Board, and Constitutional Law practitioner in Supreme Court for over 28 years, in an interview with the Daily FT shares a frank inside view into the status of the Judicial organ of the State today forwarded by the Asian […]

Avinash Pandey Looking at the pattern of tomato pricing in India, year after year, could lead one to believe that tomatoes are pricing themselves, evilly conspiring against the farmers producing them and the consumers buying them, helping only the intermediaries in the process. As of now, tomatoes are being sold for more than Rs. 80 […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been found guilty of corruption by the Supreme Court’s Joint Investigation Team. The team found the Sharif family wealth to be beyond their sources of income. The country’s political parties and Bar Associations are now demanding Sharif’s resignation. Moving to Burma, the […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a Hong Kong based Nepali investigative journalist and NepalKhabar Hong Kong Editor, Mr. JB Pun Magar, has been attacked and threatened for writing on issues relating to the Nepalese community residing in Hong Kong. Mr. Komal Gurung (Thapa), a Hong Kong based businessperson has been targeting JB […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where police brutality and violence continues. Three videos show how law enforcement officials regularly transcend their authority and abuse ordinary citizens, with a complete lack of accountability. In the most recently surfaced video, a group of police officers are baton charging unarmed women mill workers in Muzaffargarh, Punjab. […]

A Fact-finding report by MASUM forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) conducted a high level fact finding in Darjeeling and adjoining areas to assess the situation at Darjeeling hills after the agitation for separate statehood and the subsequent police atrocities upon the agitators. This report is only a primary […]