Torture

INDONESIA: Investigation into the Paniai case in Papua goes nowhere

Ever since the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) established the Ad Hoc investigation team for the Paniai case, under the decision 1 March 2016 letter of the Chair of the Komnas HAM (Number 009 / Komnas HAM / III / 2016), there is no progress in this case (see case details at AHRC-UAC-089-2015 and a […]

AHRC TV: Madhesi activists arrested from workshop in Nepal and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 145

This week Just Asia begins with Nepal, where 22 Madhesi activists were arrested on October 23 while participating in a Leadership Development workshop. Affiliated with Dr. C.K. Raut and his campaign, the activists from Nawalparasi District were meeting at a local hotel. A group of around 40 police officers abruptly closed the workshop, hit the […]

THAILAND: Police torture case in Prachuap Khiri Khan needs investigation and progress

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding two juvenile suspects tortured by police in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, Thailand. According to the Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF), three suspects were accused of a criminal offense. While they were in custody, the police tortured two of them in order to obtain […]

PAKISTAN: Missing Karachi political activists must be recovered safely

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding a professor, a lawyer, and two activists from a political party, who have been arrested and disappeared by a law enforcement agency. One amongst those arrested were disappeared on October 23, and since then his whereabouts are unknown. The MQM-Altaf political part has […]

NEPAL: Rangeli Police torture woman in illegal detention, hanging her upside down

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that police officers attached to Area Police Office Rangeli illegally arrested and illegally detained Gulephun Khatun and her husband. Gulephun Khatun, illegally detained for 24 days, has been tortured and even hung upside down for 30 minutes. Husband and wife are now released on […]

PAKISTAN: Police abduct four women amidst tribal clash

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information from Jacobabad, Sindh Province, of police having abducted four women amidst a dispute between the Qambrani and Thaheem tribes that has taken a violent turn. The tribes are clashing over land belonging to a weaker third tribe, the Saidan. In the tribal fight […]

NEPAL: Illegal arrest and torture of a man in the Dang district

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights commission (AHRC) has received information, that police officers attached to the Dang District Police Office, illegally arrested and tortured Salman Khan of the Dang District. Police charged him with robberies at Lamahi, Ghorahi, and Tulsipur Chowk. They have been given permission from the District Court of Dang Ghorahi to […]

NEPAL: Police illegally arrest and torture a man

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that police officers attached to District Police Office Nepalgunj have illegally arrested and illegally detained Rasheed Darji in spite of a stay order issued by the High Court. The police defied the Court decision, and arrested Rasheed due to the influence of his brother […]

PAKISTAN: Two students disappeared, one shot dead in public, for opposing Pak-China Economic Corridor

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the disappearances and extrajudicial killings of youth in Balochistan Province for opposing the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, a huge highway being constructed by China, which has an investment of Rupees 47 billion. The ages of the disappeared and extrajudicially killed range from […]

AHRC TV: Pakistani Shias killed in military controlled areas and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 142

This week Just Asia begins with the killing of six Pakistani Shias in two cities under military control. In Quetta city, the capital of Balochistan, four women were shot dead in a bus on their way home on October 4. On the same evening, two Shias were killed returning from their mosque in the military […]

Sri Lanka: Hair Dresser severely tortured for failing to give a haircut to HQI, Hatton

Basil Fernando Kadireshan Ravishankar, 34 was severely tortured by the HQI and other officers of the Hatton police station merely for failing to provide a haircut immediately on his order a couple of days ago. The case exposes the dangers of not allowing lawyers from representing their clients at police station, an amendment Minister of […]

THAILAND: Pattani Court to hear evidence from military officials and others in custodial death case of Mr. Abduldayib Dolah

A Press Release from Muslim Attorney Centre Foundation (MAC) and Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) On 11 October 2016 from 09.00 -16.00 at the courtroom no. 2, 2nd floor of the Pattani Provincial Court (new court), a hearing in the post mortem inquest will take place in the […]

SRI LANKA: The Minister of Justice wants to add a joke into the statute book as an amendment to the criminal procedure code

Basil Fernando A new dimension was added to the debate on the proposed amendment to the criminal procedure code when the Minister of Justice attempted to defend the amendment on the basis that it is required to enable investigations into crime. The proposed amendment is that lawyers would not be able to represent people at […]

INDIA: Police kill 4 citizens protesting land acquisition on CM’s watch

The Police firing, killing 4 citizens, including a minor, in Dadikala Village of Barkagaon Block in Hazaribagh District of Jharkhand, has not come out of the blue. The state authorities were well aware of the popular anger against forced acquisition of villagers’ lands for a coal mine project of the NTPC Limited (NTPC), a public […]

THAILAND: National Human Rights Commission must protect torture victims

On 17 August 2016, the Office of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRC) officially informed Ms. Pornpen Khongkachonkiet that the NHRC could not investigate the facts revealed in a torture report that she and two other human rights defenders had submitted to the NHRC. The Commission claimed that the report failed to provide […]

INDONESIA: Government must earnestly address human rights violation in Papua

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned about six Pacific countries raising the subject of human rights violations in Papua in the General Debate of the Assembly’s 71st Session, on 26 September 2016. The video can be accessed here. The six Pacific countries are Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Nauru, the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, and Tonga. The […]

PAKISTAN: Punjab police save teenage Christian from lynching

Though incidents of accusation of blasphemy are on the rise, it is heartening to note that the police attitude has improved remarkably in handling such cases. Thanks to the incessant and relentless lobbying and advocacy by civil society and rights organizations, the tide has begun to turn in favor of marginalized religious minorities, especially in […]

AHRC TV: Pakistan’s Imdad Ali to be executed and other stories in JUST ASIA, Episode 141

This week Just Asia begins with an update regarding the execution of mentally ill Imdad Ali. Pakistan’s Supreme Court rejected his mercy appeal, and has set his execution for Tuesday, October 4. The Supreme Court decision arrives despite four United Nations human rights experts having urged authorities in Pakistan to halt Imdad Ali’s execution. The […]

WORLD: The trial of a Khmer Rouge torturer — In the latest issue of Torture Magazine

(Hong Kong, 30 September 2016) “The evacuations and arrests were just part of a larger Khmer Rouge project of mass social engineering which involved obliterating everything that smacked of capitalism, privatism, and class oppression,” writes Alexander Laban Hinton, Founding Director, Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights and Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University. He is […]

THAILAND: Thai authorities prevent press briefing on state-sponsored torture

Police and public officials have prevented a press briefing of Amnesty International (AI)’s about state-sponsored torture, saying that AI speakers might be charged for not having working permit. On 28 September 2016, at Four Wings Hotel in Bangkok, Special Branch police officers and officials from the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare intervened at a […]