Torture

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is distressed to learn that human rights defender and freelance journalist Jiten Yumnam has been tortured by police in custody. We have also obtained court documents which show that he and the seven other accused were arrested on mere suspicion and unsubstantiated allegations. The documents stand as […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that four members of a Christian family were severely beaten by the police after their arrest on false charges of blasphemy. Police reportedly tortured them over a two-day period to try to extract forced confessions, releasing them only after being paid a substantial bribe. […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to express its appreciation of the recent developments that the bill, which seeks to criminalize torture, has been ratified by the Philippine Senate and the House of Representatives on August 17, 2009. Though the bill has already been ratified, it has yet to be signed by the President […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information about a case in which six close relatives of a man have been arrested, tortured and falsely charged in response to his love marriage to a higher caste woman. The woman’s family (which includes powerful Punjab assembly member Iftekhar Baloch) is alleged to be behind […]

On the 10th September, 2009 the Torture and Custodial Death (Prohibition) Bill, 2009 was placed before parliament. This bill attempts to bring Bangladeshi law in conformity with the international law. This bill has come to the parliament by way of a private member¡¦s bill proposed by Saber Hossain Chowdhury, one of the members for Dhaka […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]