Freedom of expression

Dear friends,   The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following press release from the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- Islamabad January 1, 2011. The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has termed the year 2010 as one of the worst in the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information concerning a concocted criminal case registered against a journalist in India, Mr. Rahul Singh, for reporting a mass grave in Panderwada village within Panchmahal district of Gujarat. In December 2005, Rahul came to know about the mass grave in Panderwada from the local human […]

We hope that wishing for a happy new year in Sri Lanka is not just mere wishful thinking. We wish: 1. That Rizana Nafeek, facing a death sentence in Saudi Arabia, will be released as soon as possible. This wish can become true only if the Sri Lankan government makes all the diplomatic efforts to […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following press release from the Reporters Without Borders. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- Published on 21 December 2010 Reporters Without Borders calls on the Thai authorities to release Sun Shucai, an 87-year-old refugee activist and journalist who was arrested […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year. In all countries of Asia, this Christmas and new year will be celebrated in very difficult conditions. We extend our wishes to all families who are struggling in the midst of these difficulties to fight for their rights. We particularly […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the introduction of a private member’s bill to the National Assembly Secretariat that would end the death penalty for blasphemy, curtail abuse of the blasphemy laws for the purpose of harassing and victimising religious minorities and take steps to ensure equal protection for […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that prosecutors have pleaded with the court to imposed four to five years of imprisonment on two human rights activists for organising an assembly. The assembly was to commemorate those who lost their family members in the January 20, 2009 Yongsan incident where five protestors and […]

About 50,000 members of the fisher folk community in the Negombo lagoon area have been protesting against a move by the government to initiate a tourism project which will require the reclamation of part of the lagoon to build a landing strip. The Negombo lagoon is rich with marine resources and has provided livelihoods for […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission shares the excitement felt worldwide at the release of Burma’s unrivalled symbol of democracy and hope for the future, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and at her first public speech in many years, held at the headquarters of the National League for Democracy in Rangoon on 14 November 2010. The […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned that Jean Marie Ferraris, a mining activist attached to the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center-Kasama sa Kalikasan or LRC, has been falsely accused as “head of the international financial cell” of the Communist Part of the Philippines (CPP) in Indonesia. Falsely accusing human rights and […]

Dear Friends,   The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward the following statement from the Thai Netizen Network requesting representatives to consider urgent amendment to Article 15 of the Computer-Related Crimes Act 2007.   Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong   ————- A Statement from the Thai Netizen Network forwarded by the Asian […]

(Hong Kong, November 5, 2010) The Asian Human Rights Commission on Wednesday launched a new campaign webpage on the case of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, the director of the independent online news service Prachatai, who is facing multiple criminal charges over material that readers posted onto her website. The webpage, which is mostly in English but also […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission has followed the case of Nyi Nyi Htun, the editor of a Karenni state-based news journal, who was charged for upsetting public tranquility by sending news reports outside Burma. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison on 13 October 2010 by the Seikkan Township court. Police officers from the […]

ISLAMABAD Oct 31: The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has expressed concern over non-arrest of officials of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) who ruthlessly tortured and inflected more than 31 injurers on various parts of the body of Din TV channel’s Faisal Shoukat Ali Rajput and demanded immediate action against all those involved in […]

Since October 28, 2010, the Asian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) website has been subjected to a concerted “cyber-attack” in which computers with hidden locations and identities have been used to flood the website’s servers with fake requests, in order to overload it. This has resulted in visitors not being able to access the website’s content […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following open letter from the Cambodia Center for Human Rights to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ——- An Open Letter from the Cambodia Center for Human Rights to the United Nations Secretary General […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Burmese migrant workers in the city of Khon Kaen in north east Thailand, holding a peaceful protest against their employer for illegally keeping their legal documents, had allegedly been fired upon by gunmen. To frighten them, the gunmen fired shots into the community […]

Basil Fernando What Sarath Fonseka and Sam Rainsy have in common is that they are the most popular opposition leaders in their countries and that they have been jailed for that very reason. Political popularity is treated as a serious crime in both countries, where the ruling parties are aspiring to create one party rule. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn, director of Prachatai online newspaper, was detained by the immigration police at Suvarnabhumi Airport, in Samutprakarn province near Bangkok, and transferred to Khon Kaen police station, in northeastern Thailand. She has been charged with violating the Computer Crimes Act BE.2550 (2007) […]

(Hong Kong, September 22, 2010) The BBC should not shut down or scale back Burmese-language broadcasts, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urged in a letter sent to the UK government on Wednesday. According to recent media reports, including in items on the BBC Burmese Service itself, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office is considering […]