Impunity

WORLD: Who will respond to the distress call of the Judicial Service Commission of Sri Lanka?

This distress call is not from a sinking ship but from the supreme body that represents the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) of Sri Lanka, which is desperately stating that the independence of the judiciary is under threat from the executive. The Asian Human Rights Commission has for years warned that democracy in Sri Lanka is […]

BANGLADESH: Businessman remains missing for ten years while police deny credible investigation – family struggles to survive despite attacks from thugs

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a businessman named Mr. Md. Karamat Ali of Satkhira district town has been missing for ten years. Md. Hossain Ali, the prime suspect in the disappearance of the victim, has run a business right in front of the police station for the past ten […]

BANGLADESH: Female human rights defender molested, sexually harassed, and suspended from her position as school teacher for standing up for a victim of gang-rape

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a female human rights defender, Mrs. Shampa Goswami, is facing suspension from her job as teacher for standing up for a victim of gang rape. The alleged perpetrators, well connected to influential political leaders, have been directly attacking her person, by circulating doctored […]

NEPAL: Police torture a detainee by hanging him upside down in Kaski district

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man arrested for snatching a gold chain had been severely tortured while in custody of the District Police Office, Kaski, for two days from 9 to 10 September, 2012, in spite of having confessed to the crime immediately. At the time of […]

NEPAL: A minor is tortured and illegally detained, alongside adults, and refused access to a lawyer

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information that a fifteen-year-old domestic worker, Mr Rameshwor Chhaudari, was arrested by the police on 16 August under allegations of theft. He was brought before the Chief District Officer although Nepali law mandates that minors should be tried by a Juvenile bench. Since then, he has […]

SRI LANKA: Disappearance of land titles among other frauds

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to bring to the attention of the Sri Lankan public that we have learned about the massive frauds relating to tampering with land titles and also other frauds by the misusing the criminal justice process by way of fabrication of charges. The incidents narrated hereunder would explain the […]

SRI LANKA: Continued detention of an innocent man for four years despite a release order from the court

Dear friends, According to information the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) received Mr. Thangaraja Ramesh Kumar (32) has been detained by the law enforcement agencies of Sri Lanka for more than four years despite the fact that the High Court ordered his release. After his arrest he was transferred from one police station to another […]

INDIA: Drowned by a dam; disowned by a democracy

Article | India | 11-09-2012

With dejection written large on her face, Leela Bai stood submerged neck deep in water, as she had been for the last 11 days. So were about 50 other people from the east Nimaar region of Madhya Pradesh in India, and 200 others who stood submerged for shorter stints in solidarity with Leela Bai and […]

INDIA: Ban corruption, not banish the cartoonist

Article | India | 10-09-2012

The arrest of Aseem Trivedi, a cartoonist and a member of India against Corruption, is not only ridiculous but also a telling comment on the paranoia that has set in the government circles and deserves all the outrage it has caused. In fact, the only thing more ludicrous than the arrest itself is the reason […]

INDIA: Too little too late

After 17 days of daring to stand in neck-deep water, the villagers who are protesting against the unjust compensation package offered for the Onkareshwar Dam in Madhya Pradesh is yet to receive any guaranteed assurances from their government. Yesterday, the Madhya Pradesh State Government has reportedly agreed to reduce the water level in the reservoir, […]

BANGLADESH: 11 year old Indigenous girl raped by police in Chittagong Hill Tracts

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding an incident of rape. An 11-year-old girl has been raped by a policeman in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The minor girl has suffered serious physical, psychological, and social trauma due to the sexual assault for which the local police initially refused to register […]

INDONESIA: Eight years of impunity and injustice on Munir’s case

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is saddened that after eight years of the assassination of Munir Said Thalib, there has been no sign from the government that it will take the necessary measures to bring those responsible for the killing to justice. Munir was a prominent and outspoken human rights activist in Indonesia. On […]

INDIA: Peeling a dead fish

The villagers’ protest against the absence of reasonable settlement for the land and livelihood lost to the Omkareshwar and the Indira Sagar Dams in the Narmada Valley project has thus far fallen upon a blind and deaf government. The agitation, though has received wholehearted support from a section of the Indian civil society, has failed […]

INDIA: History repeats in Omkareshwar protest

(Hong Kong, September 05, 2012) “This is taking the Ghandhian method to the water. To be submerged in water continuously for so many days is more difficult, in fact, than fasting…” Mr. Basil Fernando, Director – Polices and Programmes said referring to the ongoing protest in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, India by the villagers who lost […]

INDIA: Rights are a mandate, not a concession

Statement | India | 04-09-2012

The ongoing protest by village communities acting against the increase of water level in the Omkareshwar Dam is unique in several aspects. The protest, which has completed 11 days today, is directed against the Madhya Pradesh state government that has failed to adequately rehabilitate those who have lost their land and livelihood to this ‘development’ […]

SRI LANKA: An innocent woman was physically and verbally abused by the Pamunugama Police who sided with the culprit of her complaint

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that when Ms. Warnakulasuriya Tresa Dorin Marcus tried to make a complaint to the officers of the Pamunugama Police Station that her son-in-law was in possession of an illegal weapon the officers sided with the culprit and verbally and physically abused her. Working under […]

PAKISTAN: The plight of fisherfolk and the law of jungle in Chashma Barrage, Punjab

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding a series of human rights violation cases in Chashma Barrage, Mianwali district, Punjab Province. In December 2011 a fisherfolk activist and human rights defender was attacked and killed by land grabbers. Three persons were injured in the attack and they have not been […]

SRI LANKA: Another innocent victim illegally arrested and tortured after the demonstration at the Thambuththegama Police Station

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that yet another innocent victim has been arrested and severely tortured by the Thambuththegama police in revenge for allegedly taking part in the demonstration held at the police station. Mr. D P Anil Thushara was a witness to the incident but did not take […]

BANGLADESH: Magistrate violates law, while the government’s goons attempt to brand college student as a criminal after the Rapid Action Battalion took his leg away

[RE: AHRC-UAC-075-2011: BANGLADESH: Rapid Action Battalion shoots innocent college student, causing permanent disability, and now threatens sympathizers with extra-judicial killing Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding repeated attempts by the state machinery to brand a college student named Limon Hossain as a criminal, after he was shot point-blank and […]

BANGLADESH: A black hole for disappeared victims

The people of Bangladesh are scared. Incidents of abduction by plain-clothed people, who often claim to be law-enforcing agents of the country, are ongoing, without any indication of being on the want. The people of Bangladesh are scared because their brothers and sons are disappearing. The stories of disappearances are being exposed by the media […]