Inhuman & degrading treatment

INDIA: Two peaceful protestors on hunger strike chained to hospital beds

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed regarding the chaining of two peaceful protesters to hospital beds in Puri, Orissa, India. Siba Shankar Sahu and Debadutta Pradhan, who were on hunger strike, were taken into custody by police and taken to Puri Hospital on 6 February 2006. The Police have admitted […]

UPDATE (Bangladesh): Three detained and tortured leaders have been released from prison in Chapainawabganj

[RE: UP-013-2006: BANGLADESH: Three persons tortured by the Chapainawabganj police; UA-041-2006: BANGLADESH: Eight people killed and at least one hundred injured by police fire in Chapainawabganj district; UA-013-2006: BANGLADESH: Two people killed and thirty-five injured by police fire in Chapainawabganj district] ———————————– UP-016-2006: BANGLADESH: Three detained and tortured leaders have been released from prison in […]

UPDATE (Saudi Arabia/Sri Lanka): Renewed plea for commuting the death sentence of Sri Lankan men to the new King of Saudi Arabia

[RE: UP-43-2005: SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Questions remain in Sri Lanka’s willingness to save three of its citizens; UP-39-2005: Three Sri Lankans face imminent execution in Saudi Arabia; UP-38-2005: SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Please send a letter to the King of Saudi Arabia urging his intervention to commute the death sentence of three Sri Lankans; UP-34-2005: Death […]

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Police’s deliberate inaction in a labour case is in violation of court orders

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding 73 workers from the Orex Factory in Ekala, Jaela, Sri Lanka, who were unlawfully dismissed after the owner arbitrarily closed down the factory in 2002. The AHRC previously reported that the owner, Mohamed Mohamed Izzath deprived his workers of the Employees Trust […]

INDIA: Human rights defender physically assaulted, threatened and detained by government officials

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information through its local partner MASUM in West Bengal that Mr. Gopen Sharma, a human rights activist was illegally detained, threatened and assaulted by the officers at the Block Development Office in Jalangi, Murshidabad District, West Bengal. Mr. Sharma was, at the time of the […]

UPDATE (India): No compensation to family of adivasi, murdered by forest official, despite a four year wait

[Re: UA- 50 -2005: INDIA: Three and a half year wait for justice for the brutal murder of an Adivasi (tribal person) by a forest official in Gujarat] Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information on the case of Manishbhai Motibhai Vasava (30), an adivasi who was murdered by an Indian […]

INDIA: A man arrested with fabricated charges and paraded in under-clothed condition

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information by MASUM in West Bengal that a man named Mr. Madhusudan Seth was allegedly arrested with false charges and ill-treated by the Manteswar police in West Bengal. The victim was arrested on the late night of 3 September 2004 and was produced before the […]

PAKISTAN: A young woman killed by her husband on the pretext of honour killing

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 […]

INDIA: Torture, death in police custody, impunity

Dear Friends Please take action on the information below, forwarded from the organisation People’s Watch-Tamilnadu, which is a human rights organisation working for the protection and promotion of human rights in the state of Tamilnadu, India. People’s Watch-Tamilnadu have been taking action on behalf of the citizens of Tamilnadu and elsewhere regarding blatant violations of human […]

UPDATE (SRI LANKA): Michael Anthony Fernando (Tony)

Dear Friends We are pleased to update you with the following on Michael ‘Tony’ Fernando: SET ASIDE ‘PATENTLY FLAWED’ DECISION SWIFTLY UN Rappoteur Tells the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka The UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Date Param Cumaraswamy, in a press release issued from Kuala Lumpur on 28 May […]

INDIA: Burning Dalits with an iron rod and force-feeding human excreta

INDIA: Human dignity is denied; Cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment against Dalits ——————————————————————– We reproduce this report about an incident that has enraged Dalits in India. The horrible nature of caste oppression and the Indian government’s unwillingness to deal decisively with this issue is brought home shapely by this story. We urge everyone to write […]

MAY DAY 2002: State violence and repression in Asia

State violence and repression in Asia INDONESIA/MALAYSIA/SINGAPORE/AUSTRALIA: Repression and violence against human rights defenders on May Day 2002 ——————————————————————– Last Wednesday was International Labour Day – the day to remember and continue the struggle for basic human rights for workers around the world. Far too often the efforts of worker activists for justice end in […]

UPDATE (MALAYSIA): Call for Red Cross to aid hunger striking ISA detainees

Dear Friends We are asking for your urgent action in the light of dramatic developments in the struggle of the ISA detainees for proper medical and legal treatment. The 8-day long hunger strike and several days without water has seriously weakened the six detainees to the point where two have been put on intravenous drip […]

AUSTRALIA: ‘Last resort’ for asylum seeker Stephen Khan

Last resort’ for asylum seeker Stephen Khan AUSTRALIA: Mandatory detention and denial of the right to asylum, denial of independent fair trial, serious risk of ill-treatment if expatriated ——————————————————————— AHRC has previously issued urgent appeals drawing attention to the brutal treatment of asylum-seekers and the appalling conditions in detention centres in Australia. Since last year […]