Right to remedy

SRI LANKA: Sadistic tendencies of the police

The following interview was originally printed in the latest issue of the Torture: Asian and Global Perspectives. An Interview with Dr. Sunil Cooray on Torture in Sri Lanka Dr. Sunil Cooray is a senior lawyer who is very well known in Sri Lanka. He has been in legal practice for 46 years. He is the […]

BANGLADESH: Adilur’s release carries comprehensive message for civil society

Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan, globally known to have critiqued the incumbent government of Bangladesh against its human rights abuses, has been released from prison today, October 11, 2013, after 62 days of prolonged arbitrary detention. It was back in August 10 that officers from the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrived at Adilur’s Dhaka […]

INDONESIA: Banten High Court reduces punishment for police officers who tortured and shot a man to death

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the torture case of Yusli, who was physically assaulted and shot to death by three police officers in 2011. In March this year, Tangerang District Court sentenced the perpetrators to two to five years imprisonments for maltreatment. However, the AHRC has learned […]

INDONESIA: Police must investigate the fatal shooting of a man in Nabire, Papua

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the shooting of a Papuan man in Nabire, Papua. The victim, Marthen Gobai, was shot in the head on 5 September 2013. Whereas the identity of the perpetrator is yet to be confirmed there is an allegation that the shooting was carried out […]

SRI LANKA: A short report on the features of the increasing authoritarianism

Download the full text of the report ( PDF) (Word) In her media statement from Colombo on 31 August 2013, Dr. Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said, “I am deeply concerned that Sri Lanka, despite the opportunity provided by the end of the war to construct a new vibrant, all-embracing state, […]

PHILIPPINES: Why is there no investigation into the torture of a rape suspect two months on?

On June 21, we reported that Alfredo Lim, the former Mayor of Manila, had tortured a rape suspect in full view of the public, while the senior police officers present did nothing to prevent him. We rightly demanded that Lim, who perpetrated the torture and the policemen, who did nothing to stop the torture, be […]

INDIA: Villagers forced to get their rations from a PDS shop 11 kilometres away

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the plight of tribal villagers residing in a forest village named Dhurkuch, Gram Panchayat Kota in Jawa block of district Rewa in Madhya Pradesh from Panchsheel Sewa Sansthan,a local voluntary organization. Sansthan found that there is no Public Distribution Shop (PDS) shop, earmarked […]

INDIA: Welfare schemes reached a person only after he starved to death in Odisha.

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received disturbing information regarding the recent spurt in cases of starvation deaths in Odisha from a fact finding team. The team comprising of one member each from Regional Centre for Development Cooperation and the AHRC visited the Jalpankel village of Khaparakhol block, Balangir district on 25th […]

SRI LANKA: Horrible military crimes at Rathupaswala necessitate the arrest of the commanding officers

The horrible military killings at Ratupaswala are nothing but mean and horrible killings. Nothing in the military terminology or strategic manuals could ever justify the horrible acts that happened at Rathupaswala. If there is some decency left in the military establishment in Sri Lanka, the first step that should be taken is to arrest the […]

SRI LANKA: From Minor Tyranny to Excessive Tyranny

Impeaching the Chief Justice and Sri Lankan Politics By Upul Abeyrathne1 “All are accordingly bound by the necessity of keeping the law, unless perchance there is any who can be thought to have been given the license of wrong-doing. However, it is said that the prince absolved from obligations of the law, but it is […]

BURMA: Identifying and freeing remaining political prisoners

The president of Burma, or Myanmar, U Thein Sein in his recent visit to the United Kingdom has made a commitment that all political prisoners in his country will be released by the end of the year. According to him, a committee is continuing to review all relevant cases and determine those persons who are […]

INDONESIA: A 72-year-old man and his son sentenced to death penalty on fabricated charges

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a local NGO, the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), regarding the fabrication of charges and torture committed by the police against a 72-year old man and his two sons. The innocent men were falsely charged, tried and sentenced to […]

ASIA: Thorough police reform a prerequisite to end the culture of torture

Statement | Asia | 25-06-2013

Click here to watch our video presentation The following is a series of reflections by experts, of what has gone wrong in Asia, that despite attempts, torture continues to exist in most Asian states. The response is released marking the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, June 26. Question 1: Is […]

INDIA: Don’t these lives worth INR 17 a day shame you, Mr. Prime Minister?

Article | India | 23-06-2013

INR 17, or approximately 30 cents in USD, is what an average poor spends a day in rural India. Their urban friends are no better off either; they have to content with spending INR 27 for seeing a day off. Adjust that amount for the cost of living in urban centres and they are just […]

INDIA: The Chief Minister of Gujarat stop vilifying Mr. Harsh Mander

A Statement from a group of civil society actors in India against the ostracisation of Mr. Harsh Mander, by the Chief Minister of Gujarat forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission New Delhi 12 June 2013 With great pride, we would like to put on record that the work of our colleague and friend Mr. […]

BANGLADESH: The government must save the elderly and destitute widows of Gaibandha now

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received further information regarding several elderly women living in destitution in the Palash Bari area of the Gaibandha district of the Rangpur division. As in the earlier cases reported by the AHRC, most of the victims have no one to look after them and are physically […]

SRI LANKA: Officers of the Kalutara South Police Station beat a man’s testicles with a wooden mallet

“The next day at 9 am the same three police officers took him back to the Crime Branch and told him to sign a document which was already prepared. He signed it due to fear of further ill-treatment but affirms that he had no knowledge of the contents of the document. The officers then took […]

PHILIPPINES: Immediately relocate the victims of demolition drive in Quezon City

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about allegedly illegal demolition of around 120 houses in Florentino St., Sto. Domingo, Quezon City on April 10-11, 2013. The information sent to the AHRC by Barangay Sto. Domingo Settlers Association through Defend Jobs Philippine asserts that the demolitions were carried out in violation […]

SRI LANKA: Officers of the Karandeniya police torture and threaten to sodomize businessman, insulting him about his ‘low’ caste origin

Several police officers from the Karandeniya police illegally arrested Chandila Padmakumara Gurusinghe of Kiripedda, Babuwo Kanda, Karandeniya in Galle District, apparently on the instigation of a cinnamon trader. He was arrested without being informed of the reason for his arrest and he learned it only after he was brought to the police station by listening […]

INDONESIA: Lenient punishment for police officers who tortured and shot a young man to death

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the punishment of three police officers who tortured and shot a 23-year-old man, Yusli, in 2011. The court sentenced two of the officers to two years of imprisonment and the other one to five years. It found the officers were responsible for […]