Rule of law

Mr. Amitha Ariyaratne, Attorney-at-Law, was threatened three times with death on 27, January 2009 at the Negombo Police Station by some police officers. He was visiting the police station for an official business when this happened. Earlier he was threatened with death and the Bar Association of Sri Lanka passed a resolution condemning the death […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been collecting and documenting cases of illegal arrest and imprisonment of persons accused in relation to the September 2007 protests in Burma. In this appeal we give the details of another three persons who in December were convicted without evidence on charges of having attempted to […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been collecting and documenting cases of illegal arrest and imprisonment of persons accused over the September 2007 protests in Burma. In this appeal we give the details of another 14 persons who in November were convicted without evidence on a variety of offences.  CASE DETAILS  The […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received detailed information on the case of 13 people who have been imprisoned for supposedly having set up and participated in an illegal organization that was involved in the September 2007 protests against the government in Burma. The group have been convicted even though a like […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a human rights organisation based in Manipur state that a violent incident involving local drug smugglers and underground militant organisation has resulted in the death of two persons and injured three others. It is reported that in a conflict between two rival groups […]

The celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the UDHR is a grim reminder that even after 60 years of the adoption of this great declaration the gap between what is declared and what is actually achieved by way of the improvement of the protection of the rights of the people is enormous. Both in the […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) strongly condemns the arbitrary arrest and detention of eight women and their children as hostages by police, in order to secure one man from the same family who was allegedly involved in abduction of a government official on November 24. Police have so far refused to disclose […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that a local court in southern Thailand has ordered after four years of hearing the post-mortem inquest over the death of 19 men, on the pretext of self defense, that the policemen who killed them cannot be charged. The court had depended […]

Dear friends, In the latest in the series of cases of persons involved in last September’s mass protests in Burma, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) brings you details of the first charges against one of the monks who were at the forefront of the Saffron Revolution. After being held illegally for around 10 months […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about five activists in Burma who have been imprisoned for attending a gathering and meeting with American embassy staff around the time of anti-government protests last September. Apart from not following the laws of evidence in making the case against the five, the police […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Kuruwita police assaulted a boy on the road and forcibly took him, with his brother,  into police custody and later fabricated charges against him in collaboration with a Judicial Medical Officer on 31 August 2008. CASE DETAILS: (based on the testimony of Liyanage Buddhika […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a police officer raped a woman on 7 October 2008 but due to tardy action by police authorities the officer was able to escape arrest. A colleague of the accused has been assigned as the investigating officer. CASE DETAILS: A man known as […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the case of Mr. Hartoyo who was tortured and sexually abused in January 2007 in Aceh. The Banda Aceh District Court treated this case as a minor offence and let those responsible go free. UPDATE INFORMATION: Mr. Hartoyo and his partner were […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has previously reported on the case of the nationally renowned Burmese comedian Zarganar, who was taken from his house in June apparently in connection with cyclone relief work that he was doing at the time. The AHRC has since closely followed the cases against him and a […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) regrets to inform you that a blogger whom we reported earlier to have been charged without evidence has been sentenced on November 10, 2008 to over 20 years of imprisonment. The judgement was rendered after closed door hearings. It consisted of a combined sentence for the three […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has followed with concern reports that a group of soldiers raped and killed a teenage schoolgirl in the north of Burma. It has since obtained detailed information on the case and learned that although it was reported to the police so far no action has been taken […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been closely following and documenting the detentions and trials in Burma following last September’s mass protests. In this appeal we bring you the case of Zaw Min, who was accused of having sent news abroad, although no independent witnesses or evidence have been brought to the […]

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) strongly condemns the grenade attack on 27 September against prominent Sri Lankan human rights lawyer, J.C Weliamuna, and calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to launch a prompt, independent, impartial and transparent investigation. At around 11.30 pm on the 27 September a grenade exploded on Mr. Weliamuna’s balcony […]

[NOTICE: The AHRC has developed this automatic letter-sending system using the “button” below. However, in this appeal, we could not include e-mail addresses of some of the Pakistan authorities. We encourage you to send your appeal letters via fax or post to those people. Fax numbers and postal addresses of the Pakistan authorities are attached […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received detailed information on the case of a woman in lower Burma who has been jailed for over one year for allegedly swearing at some local officials. The reason for the case against the accused, Ma Sandar, is that she had previously made complaints against these […]