Impunity

SRI LANKA: Horrible military crimes at Rathupaswala necessitate the arrest of the commanding officers

The horrible military killings at Ratupaswala are nothing but mean and horrible killings. Nothing in the military terminology or strategic manuals could ever justify the horrible acts that happened at Rathupaswala. If there is some decency left in the military establishment in Sri Lanka, the first step that should be taken is to arrest the […]

PHILIPPINES: Immediately stop threatening a community with demolition and displacement

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received disturbing information from Defend Job Philippines regarding the threats of a demolition drive affecting more than 5500 families, or 30000 people of San Roque, North Triangle, Quezon City. The aforesaid demolition and eviction drive for making way to the implementation of the Vertis North Project […]

PAKISTAN: The government of Nawaz Sharif has decided to do away with the Ministry of Human Rights

The newly elected government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has decided to do away with the Ministry of Human Rights and merged it with the Ministry of Law and Justice. Through this act of federal government the human rights portion of the new ministry is to be relegated to a unit of small unit of […]

BANGLADESH: Human Rights Defender Shahed Kayes survives stabbing; attackers still after his life

Human rights defender and philanthropic educator Shahed Kayes knew there were serious risks involved in his work. He had to, as nothing in Bangladesh comes without associated risks. He knew that his attempt to educate impoverished children from the low castes was unacceptable to the deeply entrenched local power structure and those at the top […]

INDIA: Good Figures for Bad Situation – Fabrication of Poverty data in India

Article | India | 30-07-2013

By Sachin Kumar Jain By a magic wand unfurled by the Planning Commission, 84.9 million Indians have stopped to be poor between 2010 and 2012: they went through and soared above the poverty line pushed by the Indian Government. Until now, it was said of India as a nation of illiterate people; the Planning Commission […]

SRI LANKA: From Minor Tyranny to Excessive Tyranny

Impeaching the Chief Justice and Sri Lankan Politics By Upul Abeyrathne1 “All are accordingly bound by the necessity of keeping the law, unless perchance there is any who can be thought to have been given the license of wrong-doing. However, it is said that the prince absolved from obligations of the law, but it is […]

PAKISTAN: Marriage by choice becoming taboo

It was a very shivering news for the citizens of the country that a grandfather killed his grandchildren and thrown them from the roof top in presence of their mother who then killed by her father only for the protection of honour of the paternal family. The crime of the daughter was that she married […]

BANGLADESH: Human rights defender Mr. Shahed Kayes, who was abducted and stabbed, requires immediate protection

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that Mr. Shahed Kayes, who is a leading human rights defender fighting against illegal sand mining in the Meghna River adjacent to the Mayadip and Nunertek islands, was abducted and stabbed on 25 July 2013. The assailants attempted to cut off his left […]

BANGLADESH: Mr. Shahed Kayes, a human rights defender abducted and stabbed, requires immediate protection

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the abduction and attack upon Mr. Shahed Kayes, a human rights defender working in Narayanganj district in Bangladesh. A group of persons abducted Mr. Shahed Kayes, a well-respected human rights defender, working in Narayanganj district of Bangladesh, yesterday, 25 July. The AHRC is informed that Kayes’ abductors, with […]

NEPAL: Conflict victims locked into a mental hospital for seeking justice

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the condition of the parents of Krishna Prasad Adhikari about whom we issued an Urgent Appeal Case earlier (For further details, please see: AHRC-UAC-049-2013). Krishna Prasad Adhikari was a young man who was murdered in 2004 in Chitwan by Maoist cadres following a […]

BURMA: Police torture of gay and transgendered people

The Asian Human Rights Commission has been following with concern news of the police targeting of gay and transgendered people in Burma, or Myanmar, and has recently obtained detailed information on a number of cases of alleged arbitrary arrest, detention and torture of persons on the grounds of sexual orientation. The AHRC is troubled both […]

BURMA: Identifying and freeing remaining political prisoners

The president of Burma, or Myanmar, U Thein Sein in his recent visit to the United Kingdom has made a commitment that all political prisoners in his country will be released by the end of the year. According to him, a committee is continuing to review all relevant cases and determine those persons who are […]

INDIA: Court report suggests frightening administrative failure in Manipur

Statement | India | 18-07-2013

The Commission of Inquiry, constituted by the Supreme Court of India, in Writ Petition (Criminal) 129 of 2012 [Extra Judicial Execution Victims Families’ Association and Another (petitioners) Against Union of India and Others (respondents)] and Writ Petition (Civil) 445 of 2012 [Suresh Singh (petitioner) Against Union of India and Others (respondents)] has filed its report […]

INDIA: Supreme Court’s scathing report against the government on encounter killings in Manipur

(Hong Kong, 19 July, 2013) “If one innocent person is killed by [the] police or other security forces in a fake encounter, it creates tremendous upsurge of hatred…people always accurately know who was innocent. People even know whether an innocent person was killed by mistake or deliberately…” said the Commission of Inquiry constituted by the […]

BANGLADESH: Torture survivor arbitrarily detained for four months in Chittagong Jail in four fabricated criminal cases

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a petty businessman named Mr. Rizvi Hassan is detained in Chittagong Central Jail since 18 April 2013 in four criminal cases allegedly fabricated by the police. Rizvi was arrested by the police without any specific charge on 26 March 2013. Since then, the […]

PAKISTAN/SAUDI ARABIA: AHRC welcomes release of prisoners from Saudi jails, requests case revision for prisoners awaiting beheading

It is heartening news that the government of Saudi Arabia, on the occasion of holy month of Ramadan, has released around 1500 prisoners who were involved in different crimes, including the smuggling of narcotics. Most of the prisoners released are from foreign countries, and a sizable numbers of Pakistanis are also on the list. The […]

INDIA: Cultivators – Farmers and Agricultural labourers in Census 2011 – The other side of agricultural growth in Madhya Pradesh

Article | India | 11-07-2013

Sachin Kumar Jain Perhaps, I may not arrive at any conclusions in this feature article. I am in a dilemma over the veracity of the data available on the state agriculture. Perhaps you could help me in this effort. Chances are you could be befuddled as me on the matter! In 2012 Madhya Pradesh government […]

PAKISTAN: Police officials accused of killing a young Christian exonerated by internal inquiry

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that police officers have been exonerated (by their own internal inquiry) from charges of killing a young Christian, who was tortured to death while being kept in illegal detention. After the killing, in a bid to fool the Christian community, senior police officials announced […]

BURMA/MYANMAR: Police torture man to death, claim he beat up himself

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the case of a land rights activist who was tortured to death while detained in police custody in Burma. The officers at the police station detained U Than Htun illegally. After three days of detention, the police informed his family that he died […]

BANGLADESH: In week-long arbitrary detention, Sonargaon police torture businessman to death

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a young businessman named Shamim Reza was tortured to death by police officers of Sonargaon police station in Narayanganj distirct. The police, on 14 May 2013, illegally arrested Shamim without any warrant of arrest issued by Court. In violation of Bangladesh’s constitutional provision, […]