Torture

SRI LANKA: TID officers detain a man for more than two years without a trial and on clearly fabricated charges

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that a man has been illegally imprisoned for over two and a half years after his illegal arrest, beating and mock execution by police officers. Although no legitimate evidence has been produced and he was cleared of the charge after two years, a second terrorism […]

UPDATE (Bangladesh): An officer accused of torture keeps his post and is using it to intimidate victims and witnesses

Dear friends, Though the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is pleased to note the start of a long-awaited investigation into the illegal arrest and torture of a rickshaw puller and a day-labourer after an Urgent Appeal was issued, the investigation is seriously flawed. The torture took place at Paikgachha police station in 2008 and the […]

INDONESIA: Police officers torture a man to death and falsify his autopsy report

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that police from Slawi station in Central Java tortured a man to death shortly after his arrest and torture by Tegal station police. The victim was reportedly forced to confess to a crime that he did not commit, with the post mortem report fabricated by […]

BURMA: Monk falsely accused of planning to set fire to himself

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has obtained detailed information about the case of a monk in Burma who is being tried without evidence for insulting religion. The monk, U Sandadhika, went like other onlookers to the outside of the court where Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her co-defendants were being tried […]

INDONESIA: A theft suspect is tortured to death by police in Aceh

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Krueng Raya police arrested a man without a warrant and tortured him in custody. He died in hospital on the day of his arrest, however no legal action has been initiated against the officers responsible.  CASE DETAILS:  According to the Aceh Legal Aid […]

PHILIPPINES: A man in police custody disappeared for more than three months

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you about the continued disappearance of one of three men. Soldiers illegally arrested them on May 18, 2009, on suspicion that they were members of a rebel group. The missing victim was last reported in police custody; however, the police officer who had taken […]

PAKISTAN: A Norwegian citizen and Baloch activist is missing after his suspected abduction by Pakistan state agents

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that a Norwegian citizen and political activist of Iranian nationality has been forcefully abducted from a bus between Balochistan province and the Sindh province capital, Karachi. Eyewitnesses described his abductors as armed, plain-clothed and in a fleet of four-wheel jeeps bearing no registration number, but […]

UPDATE (Burma): Three innocent men are tortured into confessing to a bomb plot

Dear friends,  Last year the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) issued an urgent appeal in the case of U Myint Aye, the leader of the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters group in Burma whom police and other officials arrested without giving a reason. Later the military regime there organised a press conference in which it […]

SRI LANKA: Police torture a taxi driver for the drug crimes of his passengers

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that police officers have arrested the driver of a three-wheel taxi in Wattala and tortured him severely to force a confession. During a routine check his passengers were found to be carrying drugs, but were reportedly released after they paid bribe money. The driver is […]

SRI LANKA: The Nikaweratiya Police use severe torture to extract a confession from an innocent man, then offer him a cup of tea; hospital staff proscribe paracetamol

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a father of three was arbitrarily picked up and tortured by police, first in a wood then at a police station, to force a confession of theft. They did not inform the family of his arrest and denied that he was being held […]

SRI LANKA: Police in Katugastota torture and frame a man

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a young man is facing fabricated charges in Kandy Magistrate’s Court. The cases against him are patently flawed and he was illegally detained and badly tortured after his arrest. We are told that the lawyer assigned to the victim by police did not […]

PHILIPPINES: Soldiers torture a man with electric shocks to his sex organ to force a confession

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that a man who was abducted by soldiers, tortured and held incommunicado for over three months remains in detention over questionable charges. After abducting him on January 9, 2009, the soldiers tortured him to confess his involvement to the bombing and burning of […]

PAKISTAN/UNITED KINGDOM: Investigate Complicity in Torture in Pakistan Officials Privately Confirm UK Role in Torture of Terror Suspects

The UK government should order an independent judicial inquiry into mounting evidence that its security services and law enforcement agencies were complicit in the torture of terrorism suspects in Pakistan, Human Rights Watch said today. Officials in both the Pakistani and UK governments have privately confirmed to Human Rights Watch that British officials were aware […]

PHILIPPINES: Soldiers torture and shoot a farmer dead in front of his family

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to inform you about the recent torture and killing of a farmer in front of his family. The soldiers, who were on a military operation, assaulted and tortured the victim so that he would confess to being a member of a rebel group. The man […]

PAKISTAN: The groom of a love marriage is unjustly jailed while his wife, father and brother are missing after their violent abduction by his in-laws

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission has learned that a young woman who married freely last summer remains missing, along with her husband’s father and brother, after they were seen being abducted in October last year. According to the groom’s family no investigation into their disappearance has been carried out. Before her abduction the […]

BANGLADESH: International Day In Support Of Victims of Torture – Odhikar’s National And Local-Level Activities – 25-27 June 2009

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following Report from Odhikar. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Report from Odhikar forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission June the 26th is declared as the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. In light of this, Odhikar, as part of […]

PAKISTAN: A young man is tortured and killed by alleged intelligence agents on the UN day against torture

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that as people around the world gathered to observe the UN day in support of torture victims, Inter-Service Intelligence agents in the north of Pakistan were fatally torturing a young man in their custody. The case has increased tensions between the police in Gilgit, […]

PAKISTAN: 10421 Cases of police Torture reported during the last ten

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following statement from the Madadgaar Helpline, Karachi – PAKISTAN. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Statement from the Madadgaar Helpline, Karachi-PAKISTAN forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Madadgaar Helpline, Karachi, reported in its report on torture that in the first six months of […]

INDIA: Five Day Workshop ‘Towards Restoring Lives’ & Observation of UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

A BRIEF REPORT Human Rights Alert (HRA) and the Department of Clinical Psychology and the Psychiatry, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) observed the UN International Day in on 26 June 2009 at the Jubilee Hall. The observance commenced with a 5 day long workshop entitled Towards Restoring Lives: Practical Assessment of Torture Victims’ Profile […]

SRI LANKA: Authorities complicit in widespread torture

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AHRC-STM-149-2009 June 26, 2009 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission SRI LANKA: Authorities complicit in widespread torture The International Day in Support of Victims of Torture is recognised annually on the 26thJune. It is a day devoted to the promotion of the idea of a torture-free world. It is also […]