Rule of law

Dear friends,  Mr. Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Chandana (29) of Kosmodara, Deniyaya in the Matara District was severely tortured by police officers attached to the Kosmodara Police Station. Despite being examined by a JMO at the Matara Teaching Hospital and registering a complaint with the Human Rights Commission no action has been taken to investigate the incident.  […]

Dear friends,  Mr. Aadawalage Gayan Indika (26) of No 6th Canal, Kagama in Kakirawa in the district of Anuradhapura is married and father of one son. Gayan was travelling with his brother on his motorbike when they were stopped by plain clothed persons who demanded their identities. When Gayan in turn demanded the identities of […]

Dear friends,  Mr. D.K.K.S. Shehan Fernando, a young man of 22, is in danger of losing his life due to the actions of a wealthy businessman in the Ja-Ela area The officers of the Ja-Ela Police Station are refusing to investigate the victim’s allegations while at the same time aiding the perpetrator of the several […]

(This is the text of a presentation at A Consultation on Peace and Security in Asia and Ecumenical Responses held on August 1-6, 2011, organized by WCC and CCA) As a start we may try to reflect on some of the concerns expressed by the participants of this meeting who have spoken so far. One […]

There is an urgent need to bring military officials under the rule of law after a high police officer was tortured to death and army men attacked a police station in broad daylight and beat the policemen In the recent days it is observed that officials of the Pakistan army and Para-military have been on […]

Dear friends,  According to the information that the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) received around 150 men from Navanthurai, a village in the Jaffna District in Northern Province, were illegally arrested and detained in an operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army at around 1.15 am on 23 August 2011. The villagers were severely beaten […]

There is surely nothing wrong in demanding an end to the reign of corruption. And yet, for many in India it seems to amount to being “as good as undermining the Constitution”, or resembling “a process to destabilise the establishment”. The religious elite in the country claim that “fasting demanding an end to corruption is a sin, since […]

Dear friends,  Palle Gedara Srinath Saliya Jayaratne (17) surrendered himself to the Panvilla police as he had been accused of theft. After consulting a lawyer and receiving assurances from the police that he would not be ill-treated he accompanied his parents to the police station. At the station he and his parents were verbally abused […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is disturbed by the punitive decision of the Indonesian Court on August 15, 2011 to jail an innocent Ahmadi Muslim who protected himself during a mob attack, which reveals the lack of impartiality of the judiciary and the legal community. Deden Sudjana was sentenced to six months imprisonment by […]

A Joint Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission, REDRESS Trust UK, and Human Rights Alert, Manipur, India A draconian legislation like the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 and the concept of democracy do not go together. While democracy nurture values of justice, equality and fraternity, laws like the AFSPA are synonymous with injustice, […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Wasantha Abeysinghe (43) of Air Force Road, Kimbissa in the Matale District was illegally arrested and severely tortured by police officers attached to the Sigiriya Police Station on 12 July 2011. Wasantha was an ordinary peasant engaged in agriculture farming and Chena […]

Dear friends,  Mr. Alexander Thayaparan (48) of No 352, Hospital Road, Mannar was illegally arrested by officers attached to the Sri Lanka Navy on 17 April 2009. Thayaparan is disabled as his leg was amputated due to shelling some years earlier. He and his family were displaced by force due to the movements of the […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) congratulates Indians on their 65th Independence Day. The world’s largest democracy, has come a long way from what it was in 1947 – an impoverished and underdeveloped nation – to become the third largest economy in the world in terms of purchase power parity. While in the immediate neighbourhood […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information concerning yet another case of coldblooded murder committed by the Border Security Force (BSF) operating along the Indo-Bangladesh border. MASUM, AHRC’s partner organisation in West Bengal informs that the BSF shot Mr. Alamgir Seikh at a close range, after the BSF apprehended him by […]

Dear friends,  Lieutenant Colonel Wickramasinghe Arachchige Ranjith Chandrasiri Perera (47) of No: 5B/27, Army Quarters, Kendalanda, Homagama is a commissioned officer attached to the Sri Lanka Army who served as the Commander of the Transit Army Camp at Ratmalana in 2009. Lt. Col. Wickramasinghe was illegally arrested and severely tortured by police officers attached to […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a journalist Mr. Nilupa Sanjaya Liyanagehewa of Neth FM, one of the Sri Lanka’s leading electronic media institutions, was assaulted by a group of 15 police officers attached to the Mulleriyawa Police Station on 4 June 2011. He was later admitted to the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following press release from The Friday Forum. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Press Release from The Friday Forum forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) The Friday Forum 2, Greenlands Avenue, Colombo 5 Sri Lanka E-Mail: chandraj111@gmail.com Telephone; […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information concerning the criminal case against human traffickers in Varanasi. Unfortunately this time, the primary accused Mr. Parvez, his father Mr. Maulvi and four other thugs working under the instructions of Parvez, assaulted the primary witness in the case, Mr. Fulanu, inside the court […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the chief news editor of the Jaffna-based Tamil newspaper ‘Uthayan’, Mr. Gnanasundaram Kuganathan (59) was assaulted by a group of unidentified persons on 29 July 2011. Following the assault Mr. Kuganathan was admitted to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital in critical condition. Later several […]

For a government, when its law enforcement agencies are accused of housing criminals in uniform, it is an embarrassment, to the say the least. When the accusation, that the state police have become a roost for criminals, is made by a superior court, it must carry certain credence. That the court makes such worrying observation, […]