Impunity

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about Ms. JeyaGanesh Pakeerathy, a legal resident of France and her 14 year old daughter JeyaGanesh Pakalvia, a French citizen. Both had been illegally arrested by police officers attached to the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) of Sri Lanka on 2ndMarch, 2015 at Katunayake International Airport. They […]

Over the last week Burma, or Myanmar, has witnessed the re-emergence of some of the most sinister methods of handling public demonstrations in its modern history. The police and civilian attack mobs have violently broken up demonstrations of workers and students in the former capital, Rangoon (Yangon), and the town of Letpadan to its north. […]

On December 10, 2014, we wrote about Renante Gamara, a labour activist, who was tortured and detained on fabricated charges. He was expecting a decision from the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Taguig City on his pending appeal to have charges against him dismissed. Gamara was arrested on April 3, 2012 in Las Pinas City, […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has gathered detailed information on the custodial death in custody of an innocent man. This took place at the Dummalasuriya Police Station in Kurunegalle District on 4th March 2015. He was, illegally arrested and questioned immediately after his wife filed a complaint with the police regarding a family […]

Mama Qadeer ( File Photo) The Asian Human Rights Commission strongly condemns the illegal and unconstitutional action of the government of Pakistan to stop the office bearers of Voice of Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) including its vice chairperson, Mr. Abdul Qadeer, known as Mama Qadeer, General Secretary, Ms Farzana Majeed and one activist, Ms Faiqa […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has detailed information on the murders of two innocent people; one who was illegally arrested, tortured and killed, and the other who was willing to be the witness to the first murder. Liyanarachchilage Samantha (34) of Viharagala, Suriyawewa in the Hambantota District was illegally arrested and severely tortured on […]

On Monday, 23 February 2015, at 1 pm in the Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok, the court will read the verdict and sentence Patiwat Saraiyaem and Pornthip Munkhong. They were formally charged on 25 October 2014 with one count of violating Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code in relation to the performance […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding continuing threats to torture victim Padam Bahadur Khadka, who was 14 years old at the time of the original incident. On 2 October 2011, Mr. Man Bahadur Khadka, a Lance Corporal in the Nepal Army, allegedly tortured Padam, suspecting Padam of killing a […]

Dear friends, The Terai Human Rights Defenders (THRD) Alliance in Nepal has informed the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that police have tortured 16-year-old Prakash Gharti Magar and his friends Nishanta Rokka, Bijay Basnet, Bishal Nepali, and Rajendra B.K. The boys were taken into illegal custody, kicked, and beaten and Prakash’s leg was broken. Prakash’s […]

Public places in Bangladesh have become unsafe today for the people when protest rallies are held. Even without a public protest, person and property in the country does not have any guarantee to their security. The overall breakdown of law and order is of such state, that a pro-government group, or those protesting against the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a young man, Faraz Alam, who has been tortured to death in police custody and the Sindh Provincial Government, has to-date failed to conduct an inquiry and to set up a judicial commission of inquiry into this incident despite promises by the Minister […]

The 100-day reform programme of the new government is an opportune moment for rebuilding the legal structure of Sri Lanka, a precondition for achieving the “good governance” that has been promised. The legal structure of Sri Lanka has suffered a great fall, due to what has been termed as “tomfooling with the constitution”. From 1972 […]

This is a second interview in a series of interviews by the AHRC which seeks views and  comments from jurists on the amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan to establish military courts. Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid, former judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan criticized the establishment of the military courts in order to curb […]

A Statement from the Australia West Papua Association (Sydney) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission This report details incidents of human rights abuses and events that occurred in West Papua during 2014. It is by no means exhaustive. In the report AWPA uses the name “West Papua” to refer to the whole of the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission is shocked to hear that police shot a 57-year-old woman farmer to death during a peaceful protest over fencing on land taken from the farmers for a mining project. She was looking after her confiscated land on the day she was killed and she hadn’t accept-ed compensation for […]

In this week’s episode of Weekly Roundup covers a wide range of events in Bangladesh, Burma, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The episode begins with analysis of legal developments in Pakistan. Hear what AHRC experts have to say on the increase in power granted to military courts. Next, AHRC TV turns to Burma where new protests over […]

The AHRC has started collecting the comments from jurists on the amendment to the constitution to establish military courts and the following is the first interview in the series. This is a war of religious ideology that cannot be won using force. It is time the government does some soul searching and bury the political […]

Two heads of dogs, freshly severed, have been strewn in front of the houses of two well-known human rights defenders as the race in the presidential election is intensifying in Sri Lanka. Mr. Brito Fernando and Prasanga Fernando are two well-known human rights activists who have a long history of fighting for the protection of […]

On Monday, 29 December 2014, at 9 am in the Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok, Patiwat Saraiyaem and Pornthip Munkhong will appear before the court for the first time since being formally charged on 25 October 2014. They have been charged with violating Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code in relation to […]

Almost a week has passedsince the brutal terrorist attack on the army administered public school, in Peshawar, which killed 132 students and nine staff members including the principal – all of whom were shot dead, one after the other, by Taliban gunmen.  The government of Pakistan instead of holding an investigation into the massive lapseof […]