Police violence

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 […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the arbitrary arrest and torture of 19 people allegedly involved in motorcycle robberies. The brutal behaviour of the Serpong police officers resulted in the custodial death of five suspects. According to the police however, their deaths were the result of self defense by […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a final student in University, named Toqier Mashori, has been tortured to death in the Central Prison of Hyderabad, Sindh, within three days of his arrest. His family was asked by the police and prison authorities to pay large bribes for Mashori’s relief […]

[RE: AHRC-HAU-002-2015: PHILIPPINES: Authorities continue demolition drive against Laguna Lakeshore Community Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information from Defend Job Philippines about the ongoing demolition and evictions targeting the urban poor community of the Laguna Lakeshore area of Taguig City. After demolishing the houses of community members living in C6 […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Mapithel Dam Affected Villages Organization, Citizens Concern for Dams and Development, and the Centre for Research and Advocacy, Manipur, regarding the imminent threat of displacement and livelihood insecurity faced by those affected by the Mapithel Dam. The AHRC has learnt that the […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Affected Land Owners’Association against Forced Land Acquisition for Sports University and the Centre for Research and Advocacy, Manipur, regarding the forced acquisition of prime agricultural land despite protests from farmers and residents. The proposed acquisition to set up the National Sports University […]

[RE: AHRC-HAC-005-2015: PHILIPPINES: Stop demolition against Laguna Lakeshore Community in Taguig Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information from Defend Job Philippines about the ongoing demolition and evictions targeting the urban poor community of the Laguna Lakeshore area of Taguig City. The authorities have already demolished the houses of community […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information on an extra-judicial killing of an innocent man in Attanagalle in Gampaha District in Sri Lanka on 2nd April 2015. Mr. G A Gayan Pubudu Kumara (32) was illegally arrested, tortured and killed by police officers attached to the Nittambuwa Police Station.  Gayan, is […]

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 […]

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 […]

One of the promises of Mr. Maithripala Sirisena, as common candidate at the last presidential election, was the elimination of corruption, i.e. something the last government was steeped in. Elimination of corruption is therefore a major objective of his newly elected government. His catchwords were Yaha palanaya (good governance), which itself implies radical elimination of corruption. Today, […]

March 24 marks the fifth annual International Day for the Right to Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims. The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed this day in 2010 to honor the memory of victims and recognize the work of countless human rights activists around the world who have devoted […]

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 […]

On Monday, 23 February 2015, at 1 pm in the Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok, the court will read the verdict and sentence Patiwat Saraiyaem and Pornthip Munkhong. They were formally charged on 25 October 2014 with one count of violating Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code in relation to the performance […]

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 […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission is shocked to hear that police shot a 57-year-old woman farmer to death during a peaceful protest over fencing on land taken from the farmers for a mining project. She was looking after her confiscated land on the day she was killed and she hadn’t accept-ed compensation for […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Defend Job Philippines about planned eviction of vendors from the Luneta Park in the wake of impending Papal visit to the capital city. The threat is not a new one (previous hunger alert), however the current eviction follows an amicable settlement between the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Defend Job Philippines about planned eviction of vendors from the Luneta Park in the wake of impending Papal visit to the capital city. The threat is not a new one (previous hunger alert), however the current eviction follows an amicable settlement between the […]

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. […]

(Hong Kong, October 14, 2014) “The widespread torture and ill-treatment that prevails in most of the Asian countries is a direct result of the political system and the legal system. Eradication of torture cannot be done merely by education of the police, the military and other security forces who usually engage in committing acts of torture”, […]