Freedom of expression

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by another police raid on the free media in Nepal. According to the information received from INSEC, the human rights organisation in Nepal, armed policemen together with an engineer from the Ministry of Information and Communications raided the Sagarmatha FM station on 27 November […]

[RE: UP-43-2005: SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Questions remain in Sri Lanka’s willingness to save three of its citizens; UP-39-2005: Three Sri Lankans face imminent execution in Saudi Arabia; UP-38-2005: SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Please send a letter to the King of Saudi Arabia urging his intervention to commute the death sentence of three Sri Lankans; UP-34-2005: Death […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed by the Campaign for Popular Media Reform (CPMR) (Thailand) that a farmer who was running a community radio station in accordance with the provisions of the 1997 Constitution has been taken to court on charges of illegal broadcasting under a law that predates the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding 73 workers from the Orex Factory in Ekala, Jaela, Sri Lanka, who were unlawfully dismissed after the owner arbitrarily closed down the factory in 2002. The AHRC previously reported that the owner, Mohamed Mohamed Izzath deprived his workers of the Employees Trust […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information through its local partner MASUM in West Bengal that Mr. Gopen Sharma, a human rights activist was illegally detained, threatened and assaulted by the officers at the Block Development Office in Jalangi, Murshidabad District, West Bengal. Mr. Sharma was, at the time of the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the opposition party leader Mohammed Nasheed, who is the chairperson of the Maldivian Democratic Party(MDP), was arbitrarily arrested by the police in Male, Maldives on 12 August 2005. He was later charged with sedition and terrorism under very suspicious circumstances and is currently […]

[Re: UA- 50 -2005: INDIA: Three and a half year wait for justice for the brutal murder of an Adivasi (tribal person) by a forest official in Gujarat] Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information on the case of Manishbhai Motibhai Vasava (30), an adivasi who was murdered by an Indian […]

This April 28, 46-year-old Sivaram Dharmeratnam became the latest victim of abduction and murder in Sri Lanka. Sivaram, a highly-respected journalist for the Daily Mirror newspaper–where he was known by his pen name, Taraki–was abducted while coming out of a restaurant in front of the busy Bambalapitiya Police station. The perpetrators allegedly parked their vehicle […]

In an announcement this week, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand stated that the proposed reform of some hundreds of the country’s laws would concentrate on those that violate its 1997 Constitution. Perhaps it can be concluded from this announcement that criminal defamation will be among the laws in breach of both the Constitution and […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) shares the concerns expressed by the Secretary General of the United Nations in his statement on the human rights situation in Nepal. Time and again the AHRC has stressed that regional governments such as India, international governments and bodies such as European Union, national political parties and the King […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission provides you the updated information below regarding the libel case filed by media conglomerate Shin Corp against a media-reform activist Ms Supinya Klangnarong and the Thai Post. Ms Supinya, Secretary General of the Campaign for Popular Media Reform (CPMR), was sued by Shin Corp after she observed that […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that political activist Mohamed Yoosuf was illegally arrested by the police in Maldives on 13 August 2004. Mr. Mohamed Yoosuf was put in solitary confinement at the Dhoonidhoo Detention Facility after seven days of his arrest and he has now been there for 53 […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man named Heeralu Mohottalalage Punchi Banda (39) was illegally arrested and tortured by the Sub Inspector (S.I.) Dhammika Bandara of Samanalaweva Police Post in Balangoda on 26 August 2004. Due to brutal torture, the victim still suffers from severe pain on his […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Korean-German scholar Song Du-yul, was freed on 21 July 2004 following the Seoul High Court’s decision to sentence him to three years in jail with the term suspended for five years. Mr. Song was initially given a seven-year jail term by a lower […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to draw attention to the fact that tomorrow, June 22, the preliminary decision will be given in a civil suit of extreme importance for all persons concerned with freedom of speech in Thailand. The case is a libel suit filed by Shin Corp, Thailand’s biggest telecommunications […]

Dear friends Further to the Asian Human Right Commission’s urgent appeal issued yesterday on the dire situation in Nepal [see http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2004/654/], we have received updated information on further arrests in large numbers on 15 April 2004. Violations of human rights by the Government of Nepal continue; over 1000 peaceful demonstrators, including the President of the Nepali […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is forwarding the information from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on the politically motivated interference in the state-owned media in Sri Lanka before upcoming general election scheduled on 2 April 2004. According to the information, on 18 March Mr. Laskman Gunasekara, chief editor of the Sunday Observer was […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is forwarding the protest letter of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) to the President of Indonesia Government, Megawati Soekarnoputri regarding the ruling of the Central Jakarta District Court finding the Tempo Magazine guilty of defamation against businessman Tomy Winata on 18 March 2004. The Court also […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a 30-year-old woman named Ms. Hidayat was allegedly killed by her husband, Mr. Momin Ali Mahar in Dal village, Lakhi Ghulam Shah Town, Shikarpur District, Sindh Province, Pakistan on 29 February 2004. The case was registered at the Chak Police Station. However, a human […]

Three student leaders arbitrarily arrested by the police for shouting slogans against the monarchy NEPAL: Political right; Freedom of opinion; Arbitrary detention ———————————————————— Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that three student leaders in Nepal have been arbitrarily arrested without warrant by the police only for shouting slogans against the […]