Rule of law

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, […]

Dear friends,  Mr. Kalappam Manoharan (32) of Ratwatte Lower Division, Ukuwela in the Matale district was illegally arrested by officers attached to the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) branch of Kandy Headquarters Police Station on 11 August 2008. Monoharan, a casual labourer, lived in the same village his whole life. After he was arrested he was severely tortured and later forced to sign a document prepared bythe police officers. Later he was produced before three Magistrate’s Courts; Kandy, Matale and Dambulla accused with fabricated […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received details about a private company in Burma that with the backing of retired army officers sent bulldozers in the dead of night to destroy an historic Muslim cemetery so that the land can be claimed for commercial activities. The destruction was stopped after interventions from […]

Dear friends,  A wealthy businessman was killed by a relative of his second wife who later attempted to abduct his two daughters. Prior to his murder the deceased complained to the Ragama Police requesting protection but as is usual in Sri Lanka no action was taken. The suspected mastermind behind the killing and abduction, the […]

Dear friends,  Tamil detainees in Bogambara Prison were severely tortured by the prison officials on 14 June 2011. They were threatened that they would face the same difficulties as Kuttamanni and Thangathurai, two former detainees who were killed. The prison officials later admitted the seven detainees to the Prison Hospital at Bogambara Prison. Neither the […]

Dear friends,  Ms. N. Agnes Malini of No:18, Gala Landa, Manikhinna in the district of Kandy is a widow and the mother of a 17-year-old boy named T. Yoganathan. Yoganathan was illegally arrested and severely tortured by police officers attached to the Manikhinna Police Station on 8 December 2010. Yoganathan lost his father in his […]

Dear friends,  Mr. Basil Champika and Sunethra Kumari of No: 100, Kandy Road, Manikhinna in Kandy district are the parents of a 15- year-old girl, Malathi. Malathi was abducted on 2 June 2011, by her school van driver and the parents made a complaint to the Manikhinna Police Station in Kandy. Basil and Sunethra were […]

Dear friends,  A six and a half year old girl was abducted by dacoits, said to be the henchmen of a tribal leader four years ago and her whereabouts remain unknown. All the persons involved in the abduction who were named in the First Information Report (FIR) were released on bail by the Supreme Court […]

Dear friends,  Mr. Saliya Chandrasena and Padma Jayanthi are the parents of an 11 year child, Aruna Dinujaya Chandrasena. They wanted to admit their child to a better school for his education so in May 2011 they admitted their child to Lakpahana Adventist College Mailapitiya to year 6. During the process of admitting the child […]