Human rights defenders

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received disturbing information from a local human rights group ODHIKAR that their acting director, Mr. ASM Nasiruddin Elan, had been seriously threatened and verbally abused by a naval captain at the Navy’s headquarters in Banani, Dhaka on 3 May 2007. The officer subjected Mr. Elan for […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received important news about the group of Burmese human rights defenders who were attacked on 18 April 2007 with the backing and involvement of local authorities and the police (UA-135-2007). Members of the group have been charged with causing a public disturbance and must appear in […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the uninterrupted campaign of the District Magistrate against the human rights organisations within his jurisdiction in Leh district of Jammu and Kashmir. The AHRC has been informed that the Magistrate is now forcing the public media to refuse dissemination of any information […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the recent naming and detention of two more suspects in the ongoing, yet highly unpredictable, investigations into the murder of human rights activist Mr. Munir Said Thalib. Mr. Munir died of arsenic poisoning during the course of his journey aboard a Garuda […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is happy to inform you that Advocacy Forum, one of the leading human rights organizations in Nepal providing legal aid services to detainees, now feely accesses to prisoners at the Kanchanpur detention centre.  Advocacy Forum, had been refused access to prisoners at the centre since 7 February […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and human rights activists in Leh district of Jammu and Kashmir are allegedly harassed by the District Magistrate of Leh Mr. M. K. Dwivedi. It is alleged that the Magistrate has issued arbitrary orders forcing the closure of some […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned that over two weeks after the police chief in Thailand made an unwarranted verbal attack on human rights defender Angkhana Neelaphaijit no action of any kind was taken against him. Furthermore, the chief has appointed another senior officer as a deputy who was responsible for […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that one renowned trade union activist and human rights defender namely Mr. Phani Gopal Bhattacharya, has allegedly been implicated along with 25 persons in a false case by the Bally police station, Howrah district, West Bengal state, India on 10 March 2007. Mr. Bhattacharya […]

The acting police chief of Thailand on Monday, 12 March 2007 made a verbal attack on . The Manager online newspaper quoted Pol. Gen. Seripisuth Themiyavet as saying that Angkhana should be taught to “shut up” about the case of her husband, lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit, who was abducted by police three years ago and whose […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has requested the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to permit the construction of a small marker at the site of the 12 March 2004 abduction of human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit, who after three years remains missing (AHRC-OL-010-2007). As noted in the letter to the governor of Bangkok, the making of […]

You will be familiar with the case of Somchai Neelaphaijit, the human rights lawyer who was forcibly disappeared in Bangkok on the night of 12 March 2004 after he had publicly alleged that five of his clients were tortured. The Criminal Court, former prime minister and head of the Council for National Security have all […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that Advocacy Forum, one of the leading human rights organizations in Nepal providing legal aid services to detainees, has been refused access to prisoners at the Kanchanpur detention centre since 7 February 2007.  The organisation has been allegedly accused of meddling with police matters for […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to you to seek your intervention into the case of a human rights defender wrongly detained on fabricated charges by the police in Murshidabad district of West Bengal, India. Gopen Sharma has been held in prison since February 8 on frivolous and fabricated charges. His repeated bail […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information from its local parter in West Bengal, MASUM, about Mr. Gopen Sharma, who was illegally arrested and is currently detained based on a frivolous charge (See further: UA-045-2007). We were informed that the bail application for Mr. Goepn was again rejected on February 26, […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from its local partner the Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), a human rights organisation based in Howrah, West Bengal, India that one their activists have been detained at the Raninagar police station based an a frivolous charge. It is also alleged that Mr. Gopen […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from its local partner the People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) based in Uttar Pradesh, India, regarding an alleged assault and death threat against a human rights activist. It is alleged that a few men associated with the village-head of Pindra village under […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that a human rights defender namely Mr. F M Abdur Razzak and his father, Mr. Nur Ali Fakir, were summoned twice by the Army in Paikgachha under Khulna district on 24 January 2007. The army asked them to meet the army officers following an […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) regrets to inform you that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India fails to provide adequate remedy to Dr. Lenin Raghuvansi, who had complained to the Commission regarding an attempted assassination on his life by the police.   He is a human rights activist working for the […]

I refer to the complaint made by Dr. Lenin Raghuvansi [please refer to your case number 5840/24/97-98] of a well planned assassination attempt on his life. The attempt was on 18.02.1998. He has given detailed information that his house was surrounded by police officers from Ramnagar police station in an attempt to assassinate him the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the case of human rights activists associated with Guria, that the case is dragging on in the court in spite of all the attempts to expedite the proceedings. Guria is a human rights organisation based in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh state of […]