Impunity

INDIA: Student Tortured in Police Station

Dear Friends, The AHRC has received information about the torture of a young man by the police authority of Pavaratty Police Station in Kerala. Aslamuddin, a young man of 18 years, studying at Venmanad School in Kerala, was riding his bike through the Chuku Bazaar Road along with his friends, Avinash and Jamshir. According to […]

INDIA: Attack on Greenpeace India is an attack on free speech

Statement | India | 06-05-2015

The announcement by Greenpeace India of its imminent shutdown is saddening. However, it was only a matter of time. How long could the organization have continued running with its bank accounts frozen and with a ban on foreign funds? That this has happened after the Delhi High Court’s judgments in two cases related to the […]

INDONESIA: Indigenous Papuans charged with treason

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding five indigenous Papuans charged with treason.  They were arrested and detained after attending a meeting at the invitation of the Minister of Defense, Retired General Ryamizard Ryacudu. It was sponsored by the military of the province [Kodam Cenderawasih], the Papuan Regional Intelligence Office […]

NEPAL: Earthquake exposes crisis in governance

Statement | Nepal | 05-05-2015

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is particularly concerned about the residents of villages in Nepal devastated by the impact of a 7.8 Richter scale earthquake, and its destructive aftershocks. The loss of human lives, over 7,000 and counting, and the destruction of infrastructure supporting daily lives, already under stress in one of the poorest […]

INDIA: A man from Bihar crippled after 7-year ordeal under the Police Authority of Kerala

Dear friends, The AHRC has received information from Nervazhi, a local human rights organisation, regarding the brutal torture done under the police custody of various police stations in Kerala. The man tortured is Mr. Martim P.A. who was tortured in a way that has crippled him. A series of unfortunate events occurred in the life […]

NEPAL: Nepal government should reach out to rural areas

Statement | Nepal | 30-04-2015

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of human lives in Nepal. It is a moment of unprecedented tragedy; the devastation of human lives and property is heartbreaking. This is again a testing time for the Nepal government. The series of aftershocks have created an environment of fear. Even people whose […]

SRI LANKA: A new alliance between citizens and public institutions is now possible under the amended constitutional provisions

The passing of the Amendment 19A, is a step towards undermining the authoritarian constitutional structure imposed on Sri Lanka through the 1978 Constitution.  This together with the appointment of a new Chief Justice in Sri Lanka constitute two important steps towards creating a greater space for interventions of people in order to protect their dignity […]

SRI LANKA: Benedict Selvaraj – arrested, assaulted, and forced to confess

Dear Friends, According to information received by the Asian Human Rights Commission, Mr. Benedict Selvaraj, a mason living in Hantana Estate, Kandy has been assaulted, arrested and threatened with torture by police officers attached to the Crime Branch of the Kandy Police. Benedict has been arrested and later assaulted during a church procession in full […]

BANGLADESH: Nation needs competent institutions to bury election nightmares

Bangladesh has witnessed one more fake election yesterday, 28 April 2015. The process of electing people’s representatives to the City Corporations of Dhaka and Chittagong has been marked by fraudulence. Rigging and ballot stuffing by ruling party cadres, polling officers, and law-enforcement agents reigned all across the two cities, as witnessed by human rights defenders […]

PAKISTAN: A political activist dies in the custody of Rangers after severe torture including the drilling of his knees

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a political worker died after severe torture in the custody of Pakistan Rangers including the injuries by drill machine at his both knees. He was arrested by Pakistan Rangers on the suspicion that he was involved in facilitating the target killing. He was […]

PAKISTAN: A human rights defender was murdered allegedly by the agents of military establishment for holding discussion on Balochistan

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the brutal murder of a peace activist and human rights defender by the so called ‘unknown persons’ after arranging an open discussion on the gross violation of human rights in Balochistan. Ms. Sabeen Mahmud, who was receiving life threats from the persons belonging to spy agencies […]

SRI LANKA: Weligama Police refuse to investigate complaint of threats to the lives of victims

Dear Friends, According to information received by the Asian Human Rights Commission, Mr. P. Somadasa and his wife of Palalla, Weligama Police Division, Matara District are being denied their rights. Officers attached to the Weligama Police Station have refused to investigate their complaints about alleged crimes having been committed against their person and property and […]

INDIA: Gajendra Singh, hung by “democracy”

Article | India | 24-04-2015

by Avinash Pandey  Gajendra Singh, a farmer from Rajasthan hung himself from a tree in the middle of a political rally against the Union government’s indifference to the plight of peasants. His suicide, recorded and broadcast live, has brought the horrors that plague the countryside straight into the discomfort of the homes of everyone with […]

SRI LANKA: Drunken policeman tries to murder a monk

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the Chief Incumbent of the Namal Uyana Buddhist Monastery, Venerable Wanawasi Rahula Thero, has escaped an attempt on his life. Constable H.G.M.L. Karunadasa (87198) attached to the Galkiriyagama Police Station, used his official weapon to open fire on the monk on 17 April […]

INDIA: Citizens should not be forced to drown themselves for justice

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi  Shri Narendra Modi Prime Minster Government of India Room No. 148 B, South block,  New Delhi INDIA Fax: + 91 11 230111857 Dear Prime Minister Narendra Modi,  INDIA: Citizens should not be forced to drown themselves for […]

NEPAL: Police use waterboarding to extract confession

Dear Friends, The Advocacy Forum (AF) in Nepal has informed the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) about the alleged police torture of Mr. Munna Lal Yadav. Munna has been arrested on the fake charge of killing Tirtha Ram Yadav. Following his arrest the police allegedly beat him with plastic pipes on the soles of his […]

SRI LANKA: Police refuse to investigate the sudden death of woman

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that S. Premalatha and her husband P.K. Harishchandra are seeking justice in relation to the sudden death of their daughter P.K. Shivanthi Kumari (33) who died on 30 October 2013 at the National Hospital of Colombo (NHSL). They state that their daughter’s husband, a […]

SRI LANKA: A leading girl’s school in Colombo refuses to assist a Grade 8 student, with special needs

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about a child with special needs being unable to attend school as a result of a leading girl’s school in Colombo refusing to provide her with the necessary facilities. The child, since birth, has been unable to walk and needs a wheel chair to […]

SRI LANKA: A journalist remanded in Jaffna for merely translating and publishing a story

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. S. E. Logathayalan, a journalist working for the ‘Uthayan’ and the ‘Thinakkural’ Newspapers in Jaffna was remanded on 8th (Wednesday), April 2015, on orders of the Acting Magistrate, Point Pedro for a period of 09 days. The Magistrate had issued the order […]

PAKISTAN: Detention of Mohsin Ali and Kashif Khan Kamran without trial violates the Constitution and International law

Two persons, Mohsin Ali and Kashif Khan Kamran, have been in the illegal custody of Pakistan’s security agencies since 19 September 2011, i.e. for nearly four years now. They have not been produced before any court of law since their detention commenced. The people of Pakistan are aware that these two men were brought from […]