Judicial system

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the long delay in the trial of three men named Jejhon Macalinsal, Aron Salah and Abubakar Amilhasan. They were arrested by the police of General Santos City on 24 April 2002, who accused them of being involved in the 21 April 2002 Fitmart […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) – Mindanao about a man named Pegie Boquecosa (24) who has been detained more than two and a half years without trial since his arrest on 11 September 2002 due to deliberate negligence of the […]

Since January 2005, at least 18 human rights and political activists have killed or disappeared in the Philippines. The latest reported attack was on Alden Ambida, a provincial coordinator of the opposition Bayan Muna party in Eastern Samar this April 11. He is now fighting for his life in hospital. In March, three other Bayan […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 11, 2005 AS-39-2005 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission So where are Thailand’s judicial bodies? Speaking last Friday, April 8, the head of Thailand’s newly-formed National Reconciliation Commission Anand Panyarachun said that the commission would not be acting to investigate the mass killings in the south of the country […]

The address to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights by the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan this April 7 is a wake-up call to the global human rights movement. This speech marks a moment in the development of global human rights standards of far greater importance than the Vienna Conference of 1993.  For the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from MASUM, a human rights organisation in West Bengal, about the complete disregard for a court orders by the Beldanga police in a murder case in West Bengal, India. According to the information received, Mr. Saidul Mullick, a potato vendor, left home on 29 […]

As the Sixty-first Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is taking place in Geneva, we would like to draw attention to the colossal absence of human rights in three countries in the Asia region.  The countries are Nepal, Burma/Myanmar and Cambodia.  While Burma/Myanmar and Cambodia have been on this list for quite […]

THAILAND: False allegation of theft and assault; inaction and negligence by the police, the investigating officer and the state-appointed attorney ————————————————————————————- Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to draw your attention to a particularly disturbing case involving Mr Chanon Suphaphan and the inaction and negligence of the police, the investigating officer and […]

In exonerating the three generals identified as having been primarily responsible for the killing of at least 85 persons in Narathiwat province on October 25 of last year, the Thai army commander-in-chief General Pravit Wongsuwan made a surprisingly frank admission. “There is no disciplinary penalty for those holding the rank of general,” he is reported […]

The government of King Gyanendra in Nepal, who took absolute power on February 1, is now mobilising military-backed mobs to engage in extreme acts of violence on the pretext of fighting Maoists. The army-orchestrated burning of hundreds of homes and lynching of about 30 alleged Maoists in Kapilvastu district are methods of control all too […]

[RE: UP-14-2005: The assassin of Gerald Perera has been arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department, UP-76-2004: Gerald Perera died after gunshot; His family needs urgent protection, UP-74-2004:  No action from the government to protect torture victim even after attempt on his life, UA-157-2004: Torture victim pursuing criminal torture case shot; UP-47-2002 (RE: UA/18 and 19/2002 […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned by the attack on an Awami League rally that killed Bangladesh’s former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria, his nephew Shah Manjurul Huda and activists Siddique Ali, Abdur Rahim and Abul Hossain on 27 January 2005. There have been numerous such incidents in Bangladesh recently, and […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned by the attack on an Awami League rally that killed Bangladesh’s former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria, his nephew Shah Manjurul Huda and activists Siddique Ali, Abdur Rahim and Abul Hossain on 27 January 2005. There have been numerous such incidents in Bangladesh recently, and […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by the extraordinary delay in the case of Mr. T. Lilananda, who has been waiting for justice for over 11 years. Mr. T. Lilananda insists that there is no evidence to connect him to the charges but he has been unable to prove his […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission congratulates Mr. Desmond Fernando on the occasion of being elected as the president of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka.  Mr. Fernando’s election has come at a very crucial time when the rule of law in the country has suffered an exceptional collapse, the independence of the judiciary has been […]

The establishment of the ‘People¡¦s Committee for the Establishment of the Rule of Law Again’ by a group of concerned people is a welcome move. At the very inception of such well-intentioned work however, it must be asked whether this is not a belated move. If such a question does not precede the work, all […]

Democracy in Cambodia was plunged into a serious crisis as the Parliament withdrew parliamentary immunity to Cambodia’s opposition leader Sam Rainsy and two other members of Parliament from his party. The move is an attempt to silence the parliamentary opposition in the country. Parliamentary assembly members in Cambodia are normally exempt from legal prosecution or […]

This year’s Independence Day is celebrated amidst a complex background. The disastrous consequences of the 26 December 2004 tsunami have merely added to the burdens faced by Sri Lanka’s political and legal systems due to the authoritarian model of governance introduced through the 1978 constitution, which gave rise to conflicts in the south, north and […]

Nearly a week has passed since the Thai Ministry of Defence announced the setting up of a panel to investigate three officers implicated in the killing of at least 85 persons by security forces in Narathiwat last October 2004. The men stand accused of having “mishandled” a protest outside the Tak Bai police station, leading […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to direct your attention to the serious human rights violations committed by the arrest of Mr Kem Sokha and Mr Yeng Virak on December 31, 2005. Mr Kem Sokha is a senior Cambodian politician, who has been a member of parliament since its inception in 1993 after […]