Torture

This week Just Asia covers the deadly dispersal of protesting farmers in Kidapawan city, Philippines. Suffering from hunger and unable to plant their crops due to the El Nino drought, the farmers organized a protest blockading the main highway connecting North Cotabato and Davao City on March 29. On April 1, police and military personnel […]

by Basil Fernando The existence of a mass grave may come to the notice of the public by many different ways; a statement by a witness made during a court hearing – as in the case of Chemmani Mass Graves: discoveries of some scattered remains of bones by workers when digging a site for constructions […]

A Statement from Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (HKCAHRPP) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission The starving and unarmed farmers of Kidapawan cried for rice. They were given bullets. Photo credit to HKCHRPP The Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace […]

Dear Friends, The AHRC has received information from its partner organization Nervazhi, that a 31-year-old man with a speech defect was tortured and harassed at a police station in Kerala, India. After being randomly picked up near his home, he was subjected to severe torture, resulting in serious physical and psychological trauma. He was not […]

Dear Friends, The AHRC has received information from its partner organization Nervazhi, that one man, aged 52, was tortured and harassed at a police station in Kerala. He was riding his motorbike when the Aayiroor police stopped him. The police tortured him and injured him severely, resulting in him fainting. He has been charged under […]

A Press Release from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) On 26 March 2016, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has ordered military officers to arrest Mr. Worachai Hema, a former MP, at his residence. The officers did not inform his family and relatives of […]

This week’s episode begins with Indonesia, where the trial of 26 human rights defenders began on March 21. The criminal charges against them are believed to be part of the government’s effort to end demands for labour welfare and for the cancellation of Government Regulation No. 78, which supports cheap labor in Indonesia. Just Asia […]

Cutting off electricity, water, and Internet facilities, closing down messes, chasing all the media persons out, and then calling in the Paramilitary to swoopdown on students in the campus sounds like routine work in a dictatorship, not a democracy. Yet, this is exactly what the University of Hyderabad administration, which works under the Union Ministry […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Indonesia Environment Forum (WALHI)’s branch office of West Nusa Tenggara province regarding the brutal attack and intimidation of protesters against sand mining. The protesters were conducting a peaceful protest in front of the local parliament of East Lombok regency, calling for the […]

Avinash Pandey “A mob is the scum that rises upmost when the nation boils.”  John Dryden, English Poet The picture showing two Muslims – one of them a teenaged boy – hanging by a tree in Latehar, Jharkhandis going to haunt the Republic for a long time. Nothing indicts the failure of a criminal justice […]

The bail finally granted to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya is welcome. Despite the media gaze, it took almost a month for the students, who are accused of sedition on flimsy grounds, to be released. This showcases the nature of Indian Magistracy, and yet the repeated rejection of their bail […]

Just Asia is pleased to announce its new website www.alrc.asia/justasia. All episodes of the news programme can now be viewed there. This week, Burma’s Parliament elected Htin Kyaw as the country’s civilian President after decades of military government. Prevented from becoming president by a constitutional clause, Aung San Suu Kyi has said she will be “above […]

An Article by Camelia Nathaniel, titled ‘A Clear Indictment On Sri Lanka Police”, published in the Sunday Leader of 18March 2016, forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2016/01/24/a-clear-indictment-on-sri-lanka-police/ By Camelia Nathaniel The National Police Commission (NPC) has so far received 752 complaints against the police from October 21, 2015 to date. According to the secretary […]

A Press Release from Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) On 13 March 2016, the Cho-airong Hospital was laid siege by an unknown group of armed insurgents. It was further reported that more than 20 armed men with war weapons have raided and taken control of the hospital and […]

Dear Friends, The situation in Chattisgarh is veering out of control. Activist lawyers of the Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group, journalist Malini Subramaniam, and activist and politician Soni Sori have been harassed, threatened, and subject to violence. The attacks on their person and freedom of movement expose the situation in Chattisgarh to be dire. It is […]

A Statement from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Over 30 police and military officers have raided and arrested Mr. Sarawut Bamrungkittikhun, admin of the “PeodPraden” (Open Issues) Facebook page from his residence in Suratthani since 9 March 2016. Today, 16 March 2016, the Thai Lawyers for Human […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed by Padang Legal Aid (LBH Padang) that the judges of Muara Sijunjung District Court have refused the case of restitution submitted by a mother of two minor victims who were tortured to death by the police. The restitution is part of the mother’s effort […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the disappearance of several activists of a proscribed nationalist group, Jeay Sindh Muttehda Mahaz (JSSM), from Sindh Province. In the recent days, the Rangers and police, in front of dozens of onlookers, have arrested two cousins, and since then their whereabouts are […]

One year after the assassination of human rights defender Mr. Chai Boontonglek, a member of the Southern Peasants’ Federation of Thailand (SPFT), the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned about persistent impunity in human rights murder cases. On February 11, the AHRC received information from Human Rights Lawyers Association (HRLA) and Protection International Thailand […]

The frequently asked question nowadays is whether the government intends to create a new constitution, or whether it will amend the 1978 Constitution. It is thus pertinent to recall the statement made by former Supreme Court Judge C. V. Wigneswaran (now Governor of the Northern Province), that the constitutional crisis of Sri Lanka is a […]