Human rights defenders

Dear friends, In response to the previous update on the case of disappeared human rights lawyer Mr Somchai Neelaphaijit, the Thai Minister of Justice, Mr Pongthep Thepkanchana, has defended himself and insists that progress has been made in the inquiry.  The Minister has said that although the Special Investigation Department had not taken over the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned by the delay in investigating the disappearance of a prominent human rights lawyer, Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit, who has been missing since 12 March 2004. This case has been pending for a considerable time, due in large part to inaction by the authorities. Despite assurances […]

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 from its partner organisation in West Bengal, Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (Masum), about a violent attack on a group of human rights defenders engaged in a street meeting in Hooghly, greater Kolkota. Over 50 persons led by local leaders of the ruling communist party attacked […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that The Prachuap Khiri Khan criminal court on 20 July 2004 approved a warrant for the arrest of Provincial Administrative Organisation member Manot Hinkaew on charges of involvement in the murder of environmental activist Charoen Wat-aksorn. Pol Maj-Gen Yutthana Thaipakdee, deputy chief of Police Region […]

Dear friends The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the assault on Kailash Satyarthi, chairman of the Indian non-governmental organization Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement), on 15 June 2004 at the Great Roman Circus premises, Colonelganj, Gonda district, Uttar Pradesh, India. Satyarthi was leading a group of activists and parents […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned of the information that several officers of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka has been harassed and intimidated by the officers at the Paiyagala Police Station at least on two occasions in June 2004. According to the information we have received, when […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned by the murder of Charoen Wat-aksorn (37) in Prachuap Khiri Khan provincial town on 21 June 2004. The two perpetrators have not yet been arrested. Charoen led a high-profile protest against the Bo Nok coal-fired power plant project in Prachuap Khiri Khan for a […]

Dear friends, We call for your immediate intervention! The lives of people who were released from prison with a court order are at risk. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Advocacy Forum, a human rights organization in Nepal, that the security forces surrounded their office to re-arrest seven persons who […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is forwarding the information from the The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the FIDH and the OMCT, that three “Tiananmen Mothers”, Ding Zilin and two others, have been arrested on March 28, and their homes have been subsequently searched by […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned of a prominent human rights lawyer, Mr. Somchai Neelaphaijit, who has been missing since 12 March 2004. It is alleged that the police have been upset with Somchai after he accused of excessive use of force against five of his clients accused of taking […]

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 […]

Dear friends The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned that an attempt was made on the life of Mr. Michael Anthony Fernando when he failed to withdraw the complaints he had made against those who have violated his rights. Tony was admitted in the hospital after surviving the attempt on his life and […]

Dear friends The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has just learned that there was an attempt on the life of Mr. Michael Anthony Emanuel Fernando (Tony) early this morning (2 February 2004). Mr. Fernando went to see a friend on the main road Kalubowila Hospital Road. As his friend was not there he went to […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned about the murder of two social activists, Sarita and Mahesh Kant in Gaya (Bihar) on 24 January 2004. The victims were shot by the armed men on the way back to the Fatehpur Block Recouse Centre from Shabdo. The perpetrators are believed to be […]

Dear friends The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned with the death threats received by Mr. James T. Godwin in Mahim, Mumbai, India.  Mr. Godwin, a person who has been challenging corruption in the society for several years, has filed various complaints with the Mahim Police Station regarding the illegal activities carried out […]

Dear friends The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is forwarding the urgent appeals of the Asian Center for the Progress of Peoples (ACPP) on the conviction of Mr. Zheng Enchong, a Shanghai lawyer, who has been involved in defending the economic and social rights of displaced people affected by redevelopment projects in Shanghai.. On 28 […]

[RE: UP-45-2003: Michael Anthony Fernando freed and given an Asian human rights award, UP-26-2003: Update on Mr Michael Anthony Emmanuel Fernando (‘Tony’), UP-19-2003, UP-14-2003, UA-09-2003: Human rights defender tortured and denied the fundamental right to a fair hearing] ———————————————————————- UP-49-2003: SRI LANKA: Michael Anthony Fernando receives death threats SRI LANKA: Update on Michael Anthony Fernando […]

Dear friends The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the police searched the premises of the People’s Watch-Tamil Nadu, a prominent human rights organization in Tamil Nadu on 5 November 2003. More seriously, it is alleged that the police had threatened the executive director of the organization during People¡¦s Watch¡¦s public hearings […]

SRI LANKA: Update on Michael Anthony Fernando (Tony) ———————————————————————- Dear friends The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is very happy to inform you that Michael Anthony Fernando (Tony), a trade unionist as well as human rights activist, was freed on 17 October 2003 after being declared as a winner of the inaugural Human Rights Defenders […]