Torture

PAKISTAN: Police tortured a young man in custody for extracting confessional statement on murder of a boy

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a young man was seriously tortured by the police of City Bhalwal, Sargodha, Punjab Province, and was forced to confess to the murder of a 14-year-old student. The victim was kept blind folded in solitary confinement where he was tortured. As he would […]

PAKISTAN: A year of unjust and impunity for the murderer of two Fisherfolk activists

The Fisherfolk community in Pakistan is considered the poorest of the poor, dwelling in slum settlements along the 1129 kilometres coastline with no basic amenities. A high level of poverty prevails in all the capital assets and makes a sustainable livelihood for the fishermen in Pakistan extremely difficult. Human poverty, social poverty, financial poverty and […]

SRI LANKA: What Happened to Protect and to Serve?

On an almost daily basis the Asian Human Rights Commission receives complaints related to the practice of torture and ill-treatment by the police in Sri Lanka. From January to November 2011 the AHRC issued a total of 106 Urgent Appeals on torture and ill treatment in Sri Lanka based on information gathered by local grass […]

PAKISTAN: Six power loom workers were detained, tortured and tried in Anti-Terrorism Court for formation of trade union

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that six trade union activists were arbitrarily arrested by the Pakistan Rangers, a paramilitary organization, on the behest of the owners of a power loom factory accused of creating a trade union for the workers. The six trade union activists were tortured for 30 […]

SRI LANKA: A torture victim is detained for 3 years without trial

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Surendra Rajan of Matale has been in remand prison without being charged or even informed of the reason for his arrest for three years. His problems began when he was asked to pay compensation by his employer, a government minister, after he […]

SRI LANKA: Possibility of new opportunities – successful UN resolution

The successful United Nations Resolution on reconciliation and accountability should pave the way for a new period of commitment to cure the wounds of a long conflict, caused upon individuals as well as on the institutional structure of democracy and the rule of law in Sri Lanka. A responsible approach to dealing with the past […]

INDIA: Quackery of justice

The National Human Rights Commission is a specialised statutory body mandated to protect, promote and fulfil human rights. Set up by virtue of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, the NHRC is the result of India’s pre-emptive commitment to United Nations General Assembly resolution 48/134 of 20 December 1993, also known as Principles relating […]

INDIA: Brutal custodial torture by Harora and Ashoknagar police in West Bengal

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) concerning another case of brutal custodial torture of Mr. Samad Mondal. It is reported that the police from Haroa Police Station arrested the victim from a Gopalpur market on 20 January 2012. It is alleged that the police tortured […]

SRI LANKA: Extrajudicial Killings — The miserable breakdown of the rule of law

By Nilantha Ilangamuwa Our lives are spinning out from world to world; the shapes of things are shifting in the wind. What do we know beyond the rapture and the dread?- Stanley Kunitz* “They finished off my husband after two days of torture, and then took me to Hambantota where a number of women were […]

SRI LANKA: Dum spiro, spero, dum vivimus vivamus

By Nilantha Ilangamuwa Speech after long silence; it is right, All other lovers being estranged or dead, Unfriendly lamplight hid under its shade, The curtains drawn upon unfriendly night, That we descant and yet again descant Upon the supreme theme of Art and Song: Bodily decrepitude is wisdom; young We loved each other and were […]

INDIA: Fatal investigations

The suicide of police officer, P G Haridath, on 15 March 2012 brings again to the limelight, issues that adversely affect criminal investigations in India. Haridath was an Additional Superintendent of Police working in the Central Bureau of Investigation. It is reported that the deceased officer was investigating the infamous Sampath murder case in Kerala […]

PHILIPPINES: “Reverse prosecutor’s resolution dismissing torture,” AHRC asks DoJ

(Hong Kong, March 16, 2012) Invoking public interest for the protection of Constitutional and Statutory rights, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) today has written to the Secretary of the Department of Justice (DoJ) asking them to reverse and resolve promptly a petition questioning the dismissal of the complaint of torture by five victims. In his […]

BURMA: Appeal for retrial or release of accused and dismissal of judge in Phyo Wai Aung case

CAMPAIGN PAGE: FREE PHYO WAI AUNG http://www.humanrights.asia/campaigns/phyo-wai-aung ——————————————————————— Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been closely following the case of a young man whom the authorities in Burma have falsely accused of involvement in a bombing during 2010, and who confessed after extremely brutal and protracted torture. In this appeal, we are urging […]

INDIA: Brutal custodial torture by West Bengal Police of a young couple

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) concerning another case of brutal custodial torture by the West Bengal police of Mr. Firoj Ahmed, and of his wife Ms. Achma Bibi of Srikati village, North 24 Parganas district, West Bengal. The incident happened on 7 February […]

PHILIPPINES: Prosecutor dismissed charges of torture by stating blindfolded victims cannot identify

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that a city prosecutor in San Fernando, Pampanga, had dismissed the complaint of torture by five torture victims against a police colonel and other policemen due to “insufficiency of evidence” because their identification of the accused were ‘dubious’ since they were ‘blindfolded’. The five complainants filed a […]

INDIA: Predicament from organised lawlessness

Statement | India | 12-03-2012

The murder of an Indian Police Service officer Mr. Narendra Kumar on 8 March in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh has again brought to light the criminal nexus between the mining mafia operating in the country and their patrons in power who have political interests. The young, 2009-batch police officer, stationed as the Sub-Divisional Police […]

PAKISTAN: The failure of the judicial system — another Hindu girl was forcibly converted to Islam and her whereabouts are unknown

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a judicial officer and a member of the National Assembly from the ruling party have forced a 17-year- old Hindu girl to convert to Islam after her abduction by notorious gangsters. After her forced marriage her whereabouts are unknown. When the Hindu girl […]

NEPAL: Blanket amnesty goes against the victims’ fundamental rights

In three separate open letters issued today, the Asian Human Rights Commission and Advocacy Forum have urged the leaders of the Nepali Congress, the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) and the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) not to include provisions providing blanket amnesty to perpetrators of grave human rights violations in the text of […]

NEPAL: Blanket amnesty goes against the victims’ fundamental rights

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission and Advocacy Forum to the Chairman of UCPN-Maoists Party Mr. Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” Chairman of United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) Central Office Perishdanda-Koteshwor, Kathmandu NEPAL Tel: +977 4602290 Fax:+977 4602289 Email: ucpnminfo@gmail.com Dear Mr Dahal, NEPAL: Blanket amnesty goes against the victims’ fundamental rights […]

NEPAL: Blanket amnesty goes against the victims’ fundamental rights

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission and Advocacy Forum to the Chairman of (UML) Communist Party of Nepal Mr. Jhalanath Khanal Chairman Communist Party of Nepal (UML) Central Office Madan Nagar, Balkhu P. O. Box: 5471 NEPAL Phone: 977-01-4278081/82 Fax: 977-01-4278084 Email: umlcpn@gmail.com, info@jnkhanal.com Dear Mr Khanal, NEPAL: Blanket amnesty goes against […]