Right to life

AHRC TV: Pakistan grants stay for mentally ill death row inmate and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 140

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where the Supreme Court ordered a week-long stay on the execution of mentally ill Imdad Ali. Despite being diagnosed as “insane”, Ali was to be hanged early on September 20. Due to appeals by rights groups, the Supreme Court will now hear the case on September 27 and […]

SRI LANKA: Supreme Court Judgments on torture and the State’s failure to protect those in custody

By Basil Fernando One more judgement from the Supreme Court, on torture by the Sri Lankan police, was added to a long list of such judgements, when the Supreme Court decided in favour of a petition filed by W.N.L.K. Fernando of Naththandiya Police against officers attached to the Wennapuwa Police Station [S.C.F.R. Application No. 612/09]. The […]

SRI LANKA: A call for a comprehensive inquiry into the death of a person in custody at Pussellawa Police

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Raviraj Kavichandran a resident of Pussellawa had according to the police, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself on the night of his arrest at the Pussellawa police station on 18th Septemeber 2016. Raviraj’s family members claim witness to him being beaten up at […]

SRI LANKA: The OMP – A Flawed Attempt to Deal with Complaints of Disappearances and/or Missing Persons in Sri Lanka

An article titled “The OMP – A Flawed Attempt to Deal with Complaints of Disappearances and/or Missing Persons in Sri Lanka” published in the Colombo Telegraph, by M.C.M Iqbal, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission by M.C.M. Iqbal You May Read the Sinhala translation HERE To say that the Office of Missing Persons (OMP)) is a […]

SRI LANKA: Forensic inquiry must be conducted into the death at Pussellawa police station

Kaviratne Raviraj, 30 years old, arrested and taken to the Pussellawa police station by some plain clothed police officers and was later pronounced dead upon admission to the Pussellawa Hospital. According to the relatives of the deceased, he was assaulted by the officers at the time of the arrest, and one of his brothers states […]

PAKISTAN: Stop prison executions of the mentally ill on death row

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to the President of Pakistan His Excellency, Mr. Mamnoon Hussain¨ President of Pakistan President’s Secretariat Islamabad  Pakistan Fax: +92 51 9207458 Email: publicmail@president.gov.pk Dear Mr President, The Asian Human Rights Commission is deeply concerned about the case of Imdad Ali, a mentally ill, death row inmate in […]

AHRC TV: Burning of Karen homes not a violation of law and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 139

This week Just Asia begins with Thailand, where the Administrative Court ruled in favor of the National Park officers who forcibly evicted and burned about 100 houses and rice barns of ethnic Karen villagers in Phetchaburi province. According to the September 7 verdict, since the Karen villagers illegally encroached into protected areas, the park officers […]

SRI LANKA: Gayashan is still missing

Gayashan still remains missing following police detention at the Hambanthota Police Station Thanks to media interest, the matter is being discussed all over the country. The Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundera is reported to have spoken with the father of Gayashan, promising that he would do everything in his power to find the young […]

THIALAND: The Judicial Harassment of Human Rights Defenders and Torture in the South

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to draw the attention of the interested persons to follow the judicial harassment of three human rights defenders in Thailand. According to the AHRC Urgent Appeals case (AHRC-UAC-065-2016) which was released on 13 June, 2016. The Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF) is an organization that monitors and documents cases of torture […]

SRI LANKA: The disappearance of Gayashan requires an inquiry by the Criminal Investigation Division (CID); AHRC tells the IGP

12th September 2016 Mr. Pujith Jayasundara  Inspector General of Police  New Secretariat  Colombo 1, Sri Lanka Dear Mr Jayasundara, The disappearance of Gayashan requires an inquiry by the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) The disappearance of Gayashan, a 20 year old youth from Ambalangoda while in the custody of the Hambanthota Police for the last 06 […]

THAILAND: Rights of suspects under Martial Law must be respected; prohibition on visits by family must end

(4 September 2016) On 31 August 2016, at 13:30, four men suspected of crimes in Thailand’s Deep South were taken into custody (although they were usually called “invitees” and not “detainees” by the authorities). Three were subsequently released, though one, Mr. Manasae Zoroae, 26, continued to be held at Ranger Taskforce 43 inside the Ingkhayutthaborihan […]

INDIA: A democracy that discriminates and disgraces citizens even in death

Avinash Pandey Unable to pay the ambulance drivers INR 1500, or around USD 22, a young mother was forced to sit out the night with her child’s dead body outside a hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut district. This happened less than two weeks after a nationwide outrage over the ordeal of a tribal man named Dana Majhi […]

नेपाल: यातना दिने तथा निर्मम, अमानवीय वा अपमानजनक व्यवहार गर्ने कार्यलाई नियन्त्रण गर्ने सम्बन्धमा व्यवस्था गर्न बनेको विधेयकमाथि टिप्पणी तथा सुझाव

यातना सबै प्रकारका मानव अधिकार उल्लंघनको आमा हो । गम्भिर मानव अधिकार उल्लंघनको विषयमा अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय क्षेत्राधिकार समेत लागु हुने र यातना विरुद्धको महासन्धिले जहा सुकै यातना भएको भए पनि यातना विरुद्धको महासन्धिको पक्षराष्ट्रले त्यसलाई रोक्नु पर्ने दायित्व समेत तोकेकोले पनि यातनाको विषय सबैको चासोको विषय हो । तर यति गम्भिर विषयमा यातनाका पीडितहरु, अधिकारकर्मीहरु, विज्ञहरु […]

WORLD: How the Asian Human Rights Charter (1998) came to be written

Statement | World | 06-09-2016

Please read Part I – Asian Charter on Human Rights – it’s significance and purpose The Asian Human Rights Charter – a People’s Charter, was the initiative of the Asian Human Rights Commission, a regional human rights organisation based in Hong Kong. The idea of drafting the Charter emerged as a result of certain discourses on human […]

INDONESIA: Justice for Munir, Justice for All – is it true Mr. President ?

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the assassination 12 years ago, of prominent human rights activist, Munir Said Thalib, has passed without any progress being made. Munir was poisoned to death on 7 September 2004 on board a Garuda Indonesian flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam. Recently, some movement occurred when the court […]

PAKISTAN: Suo motu action on massacre of lawyers must be independent and effective

The dust has barely settled on the Quetta carnage and killing of lawyers that another attack has taken place against the Judiciary. On 2 September 2016, terror once again visited District Court Mardan, Peshawar, KPK Province. The modus operandi was similar: a suicide attacker lobbed a hand grenade before exploding himself at the main gate […]

WORLD: Asian Charter on Human Rights – it’s significance and purpose

Statement | World | 02-09-2016

On 17th March 1998, the Asian Human Rights Charter, or the People’s Charter, was launched in Gwangju City. The work for the Charter was the exclusive initiative of the Asian Human Rights Commission, supported by hundreds of organisations and a large number of individuals. All the supporting organisations were named in the back cover of […]

AHRC TV: Mother’s health deteriorating on hunger strike in Nepal and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 137

This week Just Asia begins with Nepal, where Ganga Maya Adhikari, an icon of justice, has resumed her hunger strike on August 11, calling for justice for her son Krishna Prasad. Krishna was brutally murdered by Maoists in 2004. Since 2013, Ganga Maya and her husband were on hunger strike. Instead of justice, 22 September […]

NEPAL: Government must serve justice to Ganga Maya Adhikari and prevent a senseless death

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is worried for Ganga Maya Adhikari, an icon of justice, who has resumed her hunger strike on August 11. Ganga Maya has asked Nepal’s Minister for Health, Gagan Thapa, to convey her demands seeking punishment for her son Krishna Prasad Adhikari’s murderers to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’. […]

NEPAL: Moment of truth

Commissioners from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission on Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) have been working to fulfil their mandate for some time now. But their work remains hobbled for a number of reasons. Most crucially, the Enforced Disappearances Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act that governs the transitional justice […]