Urgent Appeal Update

BANGLADESH: Police inaction narrows the path of justice for wounded human rights defender, who needs constant supports for survival

Dear All,  The Asian Human Rights Commission has earlier informed you about the attack on FMA Razzak instantiated by army officer, Major Mustafizur Rahman Bokul and his family, who attempted to gouge out Razzak’s eyes. The right leg and hand were broken with several bones suffered fractures. The police have not yet started a credible […]

PHILIPPINES: Ombudsman abdicates its power to review

Dear friends,  Further to our appeal, the Ombudsman also ceased its intervention into the disappearance and torture of a farmer, Ambrosio Derejeno. He was last seen alive in the custody of a paramilitary unit. In our letter of appeal to the Ombudsman, the AHRC expressed concern to the exclusion of two military colonels who are […]

PAKISTAN: Call for immediate arrest of the murderers of two activist fishermen and stop the land grabbing

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding two human rights leaders murdered on May 5 by notorious land mafia from the ruling party, Pakistan Peoples’ Party. The land mafia has been occupying the forest land threatening the right to life and food security of 350 families living in the […]

BANGLADESH: Army officer’s family gouges eyes and torture after kidnapping Human Rights Defender FMA Razzak, who is going to die without treatment due to pressures from armed forces and intelligence agencies

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that human rights defender FMA Razzak is going to die without proper medical treatment due to tremendous pressures from the officials of the armed forces and intelligence agencies who have cordoned the whole area in plain cloth. Since 9:45AM today, 30 April 2011, Razzak is […]

SRI LANKA: Law student under threat writes to the Chief Justice

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the case of the law student, who is under threat in Sri Lanka, that he has sent a letter to the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, informing the court about the threat to his life. In the letter, the victim, Mr. Dasanayaka […]

PAKISTAN: Police officials kept newlywed couple in a private detention center and released them after receiving ransom, the couple is facing threats to their life

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a couple, who was missing after their arrest by police officers from two stations on the instructions of a high ranking police official, was kept in a private detention place unofficially run by the police, for many days where they were tortured and […]

PHILIPPINES: Hearing for administrative case on policemen who tortured a boy set for April 25

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that the People’s Law Enforcement Board (PLEB) in Kidapawan City, a quasi-judicial body who will hear the administrative case on five police officers, including a police commander, for torturing a 17-year-old boy, is set to be heard on April 25, 2011.  UPDATED INFORMATION:  […]

MALAYSIA: Human rights lawyer sued for libel for blogging alleged violations of migrant workers rights

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) regrets to inform you that the Asahi Kosei (M) Sdn. Bhd. Company, a firm whom we earlier reported to have threatened to commence legal action against a human rights lawyer, Mr. Charles Hector Fernandez, for blogging about alleged violations of the migrant workers rights the company has […]

NEPAL: Torture victims face eviction and harassment

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the case of Ang Dorje and Jangbu Sherpa who were beaten and illegally arrested by police officers from Metropolitan Police Circle, Maharjgunj, Kathmandu after they refused to pay a bribe on 9 February 2011. They are now facing continuous harassment (For further […]

THAILAND: Verdict on Somchai’s case–his wife, daughter could not be plaintiffs; not enough evidence to convict accused

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets, but is not surprised, that the five defendants who were earlier convicted for theft and illegal detention, in connection with the disappearance of human rights lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit, have all been exonerated in an Appeal verdict. The court ruled to acquit all the defendants on […]

BANGLADESH: State agents allow army officer’s relatives to rob off the house of a human rights defender

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) informed you on 4 March 2011 regarding death threat to the family of F. M. A. Razzak, a human rights defender by the relatives of an officer the Bangladesh Army (For further details, please see our latest Urgent Appeal Update: AHRC-UAU-013-2011).  Now, the AHRC has received updated information […]

THAILAND: Court to read verdict on Somchai’s case on the eve of his disappearance seven years ago–observers requested

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is calling for court observers to hear the reading of the verdict on the case of Somchai Neelaphaijit tomorrow, March 11, 2011, in Bangkok. The date of the reading of the verdict is significant as it marks the eve of Somchai’s disappearance seven years ago. The reading, […]

BANGLADESH: Army officer’s father threatens to destroy home and establishments of a human rights defender’s family

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding death threat to the family of F. M. A. Razzak, a human rights defender, and his well-wishers from the relatives of an officer the Bangladesh Army regarding an illegitimate claim of ownership of a land, which had already been settled by the concerned […]

NEPAL: Police refuse to file a case of torture, protect the perpetrators

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the police’s refusal to register the complaint of Ang Dorje and Jangbu Sherpa who were beaten and illegally arrested by police officers from Metropolitan Police Circle, Maharjgunj, Kathmandu after they refused to pay a bribe on 9 February 2011. Their complaint was […]

SRI LANKA: Disappearance of FORUM-ASIA Executive Committee Member Pattani Razeek – prime suspect has not been arrested

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that Mr. Pattani Razeek a well known human rights defender both locally and internationally has been missing since 11 February 2010. The relatives have made complaints to all the relevant authorities including the United Nations. They have provided enough credible evidence to identify […]

THAILAND/PAKISTAN: Another 24 Ahmadiya Pakistani asylum seekers, including children and pregnant women, are at risk of deportation

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that another 24 Ahmadiya Pakistani asylum seekers, who are applying for an asylum status in Thailand to escape from religious persecution, are at risk of being deported after they were illegally arrested from their homes in Bangkok on February 20, 2011. The group, which […]

BURMA: Family of accused denied prison visits; detainee reportedly held in dog kennels

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been closely following the case of a young man whom the authorities in Burma have accused of involvement in a bombing during April. Phyo Wai Aung has alleged that he was brutally tortured for nine days to force him to confess. According to the latest information, […]

SOUTH KOREA: Two human rights defenders received sentences for helping the victims of eviction

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has obtained the details of the judgment in which two human rights defenders Mr. Park Lae-Gun and Mr. Lee Jong-Hoi were given a three-year and one month jail sentence suspended for four years and a two-year jail sentence suspended for three years respectively. They played a role […]

BURMA: Five men and two women given long jail sentences for alleged bomb plots

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) brings you details of the latest case in which a group of democracy and human rights activists has been accused of involvement in a series of bombings. The seven were already sentenced to over 30 years in prison in 2008 and have again been sentenced to another […]

THAILAND: Call for observers in the hearing of missing person case of Pol. Maj. Ngern Thongsuk

Dear friends, Further to our previous appeal, the reading of verdict on the case of Somchai Neelaphaijit was again postponed. The court issued an arrest warrant, as required by the criminal procedure, to compel one the five defendants to appear in court to hear the verdict. But at the same time a petition to declare […]