Torture

Basil Fernando The voice of Manorani Saravanamuttu was heard loudly during the last decade of the twentieth century, protesting strongly against disappearances in Sri Lanka. The voice of Sandya Ekanaliyagoda is now heard on the same issue. Both voices are echoing the similar voices of tens of thousands of mothers, wives, sisters and daughters of […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received further details of how the military and police used psychological torture methods on the 43 health workers who are continuously being held in a military camp. The 43 victims, two of whom had been tortured in the past, were illegally arrested on questionable charges in […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has already issued an open letter on the case of Dr. Wint Thu and eight other people who in December 2009 were given long jail terms for alleged offences against the state in Burma after they were tortured into giving confessions that the police used in court. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that two activists, whose illegal arrest and torture we reported in September 2008, have been rearrested and are being held in a military camp with 41 others. The two were illegally arrested together with 41 others while they were conducting training on health […]

General Sir David Julian Richards’ official trip to Nepal which includes a visit to the Panchkal army training camp has raised issues concerning the British government’s responsibilities in dealing with a foreign government and an army that is accused of disappearances. The visit will also trigger new discussions in Nepal and outside concerning the government […]

(Statement on the Sri Lankan Independence Day) This picture, which has become familiar to all Sri Lankans, is a symbol of the collapse of Sri Lanka¡¦s policing system and the loss of a sense of security among the Sri Lankan people. To understand this collapse and what has happened to the policing system one has […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned about the health and security of a journalist who was extensively tortured by the Kotowali police in Rangpur, and is now in hiding. He sustained various injuries while being tortured in a police van, and was arbitrarily detained, before being faced with clearly fabricated charges […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that the Court of Appeals (CA) in Manila, where the 43 health workers filed a petition for habeas corpus questioning the legality of their continuing detention at the military camp, is due to decide on the petition this week. The other 22 victims have […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is pleased to inform you that four of the five torture victims whose illegal arrest, torture and trial under fabricated charges we reported earlier, have been acquitted by a local court. The victims, two of whom were minors at the time of their arrest, were prosecuted for […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that three peasant community organizers who were illegally arrested, tortured and laid with questionable charges in November 23, 2009 are still being detained. They were held for 17 days in a military camp on the pretext of being a security risk where they […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the torture and extrajudicial murder of a young man in Pakistan. The man was reportedly beaten and abused in a number of police stations and Karachi central prison for not paying bribes in the lead up to Eid, and was beaten unconscious in […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission received information that a tribal leader of Sindh province has held three women and two children in his private jail and one woman has been continuously raped for more than three years. She has had two children whilst in custody. The Sindh High Court and the provincial police […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) continues to receive reports of police torture in Indonesia, the latest of which involves the illegal arrest and torture of a young woman by Jakarta Metropolitan police officers and sector police in Natar, South Lampung. The woman was allegedly tortured over two days with electric shocks to […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that Mahiyangane police officers witnessed the severe beating of a man by a priest and refused to intervene. The act constitutes torture under international law. The victim was then arrested with scant evidence of his crime and his allegations of torture were not addressed by […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that four young men have been illegally arrested, detained and tortured by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officials because of a minor personal dispute. The first victim was allegedly taken hostage by an ISI colonel so that his uncle would pay a debt, and the other three […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has issued regular updates on the case of Mrs. Shahin Sultana Santa, a pregnant woman who was brutally tortured and whose unborn child was killed by police after she became caught up in a political demonstration. One witness has been killed, and at least two others have […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) brings you case details of a farmer who, while on his way to pick up his child from school, was arbitrarily arrested, faced with fabricated charges and extensively tortured for two days by Galgamuwa police officers, some of whom were allegedly drunk. He was suspended by his […]

A Study of Police Torture in Sri Lanka by Morten Koch Andersen and Basil Fernando The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to inform you about the publication of a new book on the failing judicial systems and the issue of the endemic torture practiced at police stations in Sri Lanka. This study is a result […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that a man has become critically ill and partially paralysed after time in the custody of Gampola Kuruduwatte police. He is reportedly tied to his bed and under constant guard in hospital, but was in a healthy condition before his arrest. His relatives have […]

The UK government should immediately order an independent judicial inquiry into the role and complicity of British security services in the torture of terrorism suspects in Pakistan, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 46-page report, “Cruel Britannia: British Complicity in the Torture and Ill-treatment of Terror Suspects in Pakistan,” provides accounts […]