Announcement

This week Just Asia begins with Bangladesh, where a fast-moving fire in the historic district of Chawkbazar in the country’s capital city of Dhaka has killed 78 persons and injured 55. The death toll and the number of victims is expected to increase as more bodies are found from the wreckage. The 400-year-old Chawkbazar district […]

This week Just Asia begins with Sri Lanka, where President Maithripala Sirisena told parliament last week that he was ready to bring back the death penalty for drug offenders within one or two months. The last hanging in Sri Lanka took place in 1976, since when there has been a moratorium on capital punishment. President […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where the Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to the acquittal of Asia Bibi on blasphemy charges. After repealing her conviction and death sentence last October, the Court was petitioned by Islamists to review the acquittal. That petition was dismissed on Tuesday, and Asia Bibi is finally free. […]

This week Just Asia begins with the Philippines, where rights groups and opposition lawmakers have condemned a bill lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 9 years old. The bill was passed with a 9-1 vote on Monday. According to rights groups, the bill is “not in the best interest” of children, […]

This week Just Asia begins with India’s north eastern state of Tripura, where police opened fire without any warning against protesters on January 8. Two young men were shot in the chest and are in critical condition. They were peacefully protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016, which is seen as highly inimical to the indigenous peoples […]

This week Just Asia focuses on International Human Rights Day, commemorated annually on December 10. The day marks the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, turning 70 this year. While the Declaration’s universal values of equality, justice and human dignity continue to provide a beacon of light, its promise is yet […]

This week Just Asia begins with Bangladesh, where the government has intensified crackdowns on civil society prior to December’s general elections. Most recently, prominent freedom-fighter and civil society actor Dr. Zafrullah Chowdhury and his institutions have come under terrorist attacks, while the pro-government media has been maligning Dr. Badul Alam Majumdar, head of the Hunger […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where the overruling of Asia Bibi’s blasphemy conviction and death sentence last week has mired the country in protests. To end the protests, the government made a deal with the Islamist hardliners, where Asia Bibi would remain in Pakistan while a final review of the Supreme Court ruling […]

This week Just Asia begins with India, where the Delhi High Court sentenced 16 police officers to life imprisonment Wednesday, for killing 42 Muslim men in 1987. Setting aside a lower court’s acquittal of the 16 officials of the Provincial Armed Constabulary, the High Court called the killings that took place in Hashimpura “a targeted […]

This week Just Asia begins with Bangladesh, where police arrested a prominent government critic on Monday. Police said Moinul Hosein, a top lawyer and publisher of an English daily, was detained after Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina slammed him for his comments against a pro-government female journalist. His arrest comes in the wake of a recent government […]

This week Just Asia begins with Indonesia, where the Corruption Eradication Commission arrested Bekasi’s Regent, Mrs. Neneng Hassanah Yasin on Sunday. She was arrested together with 10 other persons including government officials and employees of the Lippo Group. The Lippo Group apparently agreed to provide 13 billion rupiah for the Regent and her officials in order to […]

This week Just Asia begins with Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province, which was hit by a 7.5-magnitude earthquake last Friday, followed by a tsunami. Official figures are reporting the deaths of 1,234 people. Indonesia’s geophysics agency (BMKG) has faced criticism over its handling of a tsunami warning. Indonesian President Joko Widodo is accepting international help for […]

This week Just Asia begins with India, where three police constables were suspended in an incident that went viral. A few days ago a video showing four constables in the state of Uttar Pradesh, slapping and abusing a woman in a car for befriending a man of another religion, went viral. The police allegedly apprehended […]

This week Just Asia begins with India, where the Supreme Court has decriminalized sexuality. In a landmark and much-awaited judgment, the country’s top court held that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code violates Articles 14,15,19 and 21 of the Constitution of India, insofar as it criminalizes consensual sexual acts between adults in private. India […]

This week Just Asia begins with Thailand, where 181 ethnic minority refugees and asylum seekers, most with UN refugee status, were arrested on August 28. Including some 50 children, the detainees are mostly from the Montagnard population in Vietnam and Cambodia. The arresting officials showed little knowledge about refugees, or government obligations to protect them. […]

This week Just Asia focuses on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, marked annually on August 30. Enforced disappearance is frequently used to spread terror within society. Many states use counter terrorist activities as an excuse for overlooking or perpetrating disappearances. Not only is there widespread impunity for enforced disappearances, but those […]

A poem in support of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. This poem has been previously published and is also included in an anthology on Enforced Disappearances published by the Amnesty International. By Basil Fernando Amnesty International Poetry Competition ‘Silenced Shadows’, 10 September 2015 What kind of a father are you,  Asked his […]

This week Just Asia begins with Nepal, where police fired five rounds of tear gas and baton-charged protesters in Kachanpur district. Two protesters were injured, while another two were arrested. The protests were against the arrest of Dilip Singh Bista on the rape and murder charge of 13-year-old Nirmala Pant. Kanchanpur residents claim that Dilip […]

This week Just Asia begins with Pakistan, where 14 schools have been attacked by militants. Last Friday and Saturday saw schools in the Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan ransacked, torched and destroyed. Most of the schools were for girls. No one was hurt, as the buildings were closed at the time of attack. Nobel Peace Prize […]

This week Just Asia begins with India, where two police officers have been awarded the death penalty for the custodial torture and death of 27-year-old Udaya Kumara in Kerala in 2005. For more than 10 years, Udaya’s mother was steadfast in her pursuit of justice. Udaya’s case is a reminder not only of police brutality […]