Police negligence

BANGLADESH: RFK Human Rights Center condemns statements by police targeting human rights organistions

A Statement from Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Centre forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights  Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights condemns statements by Bangladeshi police targeting human rights organizations Contact: Daniel Cronin (917) 284-6356 | Email: Cronin@rfkhumanrights.org (August 5, 2015 | Washington, D.C.) Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights condemns the recent […]

ASIA: Weekly Roundup, Episode 84

This week’s Roundup delivers stories from Nepal and Hong Kong. AHRC has recently conducted a trauma workshop in Nepal, titled “Trauma of Devastation – Rebuilding the Society”. The 19 participants comprised members of civil society, community workers, students, and volunteers in Kathmandu and focused how to approach and assist traumatised earthquake victims. AHRC TV speaks […]

SRI LANKA: Exhumation of Wasim Thajudeen’s body may open an important page in criminal investigations

Next Monday, 10 August 2015, the body of the well-known rugby player and Havelock’s Captain, Wasim Thajudeen, will be exhumed on the orders of the Colombo Additional Magistrate. The Magistrate made this order on the basis of an application by the Criminal Investigations Division, which submitted reports stating that newly available evidence suggests that Thajudeen’s […]

BANGLADESH: Repeating lies does not turn ‘falsehood’ into the ‘truth’

The Bangladesh Police has again attempted to justify extrajudicial executions with the excuse of “self-defence”. The latest attempt has been made in a media release (original Bangla and unofficial English translation) sent out from the Police Headquarters and circulated to the country’s media on 2 August 2015. In order to hide its crimes of extrajudicial executions, the […]

NEPAL: Police culture – hit their heads, pelt them stones

Statement | Nepal | 05-08-2015

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns police actions involving hitting peaceful protesters from the Dalit community on their heads with batons. The police have also been involved in pelting stones at Dalit protesters, a representation of the continuation of centuries old violence and discrimination against Dalits. It seems that the police in Nepal is […]

PAKISTAN: Sabeen’s case-Confession of a jihadi perplexes more than it clarifies

The alleged murderer may have been a radical terrorist that he has professed but either he is not divulging the real intention or is being used as an escape goat by the intelligence agencies. Karachi, “the city of light”, witnessed another dark moment when freedom of speech activist and owner of “The Second Floor” (T2F), […]

ASIA: Weekly Roundup, Episode 83

This Week’s Roundup begins in Indonesia, where, despite a murderous attack by the police and military against indigenous Papuans in Paniai Regency, the National Commission on Human Rights has yet to conduct an investigation, as it claims have insufficient funds. Since then, the Independent Student Forum has managed to collect IDR 608,000 so that Commission […]

INDONESIA: Bau-Bau District Court convicts officer with light punishment

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the death of Aslin Zalim in police custody in Bau-Bau Regency, South East Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. The Bau Bau District Court has convicted Police Adjunct Senior Commissioner (AKBP) Joko Krisdianto, former Chief of Bau Bau Police Resort (Polres Bau Bau), to six […]

INDIA: Judiciary is yet to catch up with reality in the country

Statement | India | 29-07-2015

On 24 July 2015, the Supreme Court of India, while deciding Criminal Miscellaneous Petition 1606/1997 along with Writ Petition (Criminal 539/1986), in short D.K. Basu (2), has directed the state governments to form State Human Rights Commissions in the states of Delhi, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Nagaland. In the same Order, it has […]

SRI LANKA: UPFA wants country to return to lawlessness

Yesterday, the CID filed a report at the Magistrates Court of Colombo, seeking to re-open criminal proceedings regarding the alleged murder of the rugby player Wasim Thajudeen. Wasim, who was a well known rugby player and voted as the most popular ruggerite for the year 2009 by Caltex Observer Touchdown Rugby quiz, was found dead […]

ASIA: Weekly Roundup, Episode 81

An Announcement by the Asian Human Rights Commission This week’s Roundup begins in the Indian state of Kerala. The state government has initiated a process of police reforms. This unique initiative involves enabling the police to undertake scientific crime investigation. AHRC TV interviews AHRC Executive Director Bijo Francis to learn more about the outlook for […]

INDIA: Police term custodial death of woman as suicide

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information about a woman, Ms. Victoria Dayoun Kharkongor, being found dead inside the toilet of the Dispur Police Station in Guwahati on 5 July 2015. The police claim that she was mentally ill and hung herself inside the toilet. According to the preliminary police reports, Ms. […]

INDONESIA: Ahmadiyya group threatened and prevented from holding Friday prayers

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rigth Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding an Ahmadiyya congregation being prevented from holding Friday prayers. Vigilante groups, namely Islamic Defender Front (FPI) in Bukit Duri Tebet, Jakarta, Indonesia, have threatened the Ahmadiyya congregation that if they continue the worship they will be attacked and forcibly dispersed. Threat, intimidation, and violence against […]

ASIA: Weekly Roundup, Episode 73

In this week’s Roundup, AHRC TV brings to you critical stories from the region. The programme begins with an update on Nepal, where a second major earthquake has rocked the nation. Renewed rescue efforts, along with relief work, have recommenced, but are inadequate for the needs of the people of the Himalayan nation.  Staying in Nepal, […]

PHILIPPINES: Colonel defends chaining of suspects’ hands in custody in violation of police rules

On March 24, pictures of four detainees, one of them a woman, with their hands chained and padlocked together, circulated online. The photos were taken by Bong Son, a newspaper photographer, while the detainees were being transported to another detention facility in Manila City. Photo: GMA News screen grab In response to public condemnation, Senior […]

INDIA: Celebrating “internet freedom” in a country known for custodial killings?

Article | India | 25-03-2015

By Avinash Pandey  The Supreme Court’s scrapping of Section 66 A of the Information Technology Act for being “unconstitutional in entirety” is indeed a great moment in the life of the democracy. The Act did, in fact, invade citizenry’s right of free speech “arbitrarily, excessively and disproportionately”. However, is this really a moment to celebrate […]

INDIA: Is it for the police to form a policing policy?

Statement | India | 23-03-2015

Arrest brings humiliation, curtails freedom and cast scars forever. Law-makers know it so also the police. There is a battle between the law-makers and the police and it seems that the police has not learnt its lesson; the lesson implicit and embodied in the Cr.P.C. It has not come out of its colonial image despite […]

PAKISTAN: A 13 year old son of an eye witness abducted to stop him from giving evidence in court

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a minor child, 13 years old, has been abducted, allegedly by members of an ethnic minority political group, the Muttaihida Quami Movement (MQM),  to prevent his father, Mr. Ashiq Chandio,  from giving evidence before an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC).  It is alleged that henchmen […]

BANGLADESH: Government drive against opposition and citizens

Since 15 January 2015, the Bangladesh government has deployed “Joint Forces”, comprising the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB), and the police to conduct operations against the opposition. Houses and shops of those identified as opposition supporters in northern Bangladesh are ending up demolished. Hundreds of people, including women and children, have been […]

SRI LANKA: Mayuri Inoka, wife campaigning for disappeared husband, abducted

Image courtesy: aithiya.lk (Hong Kong, November 03, 2014)  Mayuri Inoka, the wife of a disappeared husband, Madushka Haris De Silva, was herself abducted on 1 November 2014. According to Mayuri, her abductors threatened her not to engage in any activities calling for the recovery of her husband. Mayuri’s husband disappeared in September 2013, and remains missing. […]