Administration of justice

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Continued harassment of Thaivani and her children by the Yakkalamulla police

Dear friends, In June 2006, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reported the alleged abduction of K. Thaivani’s three children aged 17, 16 and 8 by tea estate owner, D. Karunadasa who engaged in these illegal activities with the connivance of the Yakkalamulla police (please see UA-176-2006). Amidst the shameful inaction of all relevant state authorities, […]

PHILIPPINES: Police “solve” cases but killings continue

The Philippine National Police have a unique definition of the word “solved”. According to them, once a charge is filed against a suspect with the Office of the Prosecutor it is solved. Suspects not arrested? No matter, it is solved. Investigation flawed? No matter, it is solved. Requests of victim’s family for more inquiries unanswered? […]

SRI LANKA: The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has stopped investigations into 2000 disappearance cases to avoid having to pay government compensation to the victims

In a very strange move that will surprise anyone concerned with the global effort to eradicate disappearances and gross human rights violations, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL), which claims to be the country’s prime agency for the protection and promotion of human rights, officially decided to stop further inquiries into disappearance cases […]

THAILAND: The impossibility of complaint against the police

On July 17 the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) issued an appeal on the alleged torture, armed robbery, illegal detention, and attempted rape and extortion of two persons in Saraburi, just northeast of Bangkok in Thailand. According to Uthai Boonnom, he and his partner were taken–at gunpoint and blindfolded–to a house in the forest where […]

UPDATE (Bangladesh): Government orders departmental action against the alleged perpetrators of police brutality on journalists

[UP-121-2006: BANGLADESH: Judicial Probe Commission has yet to submit its report regarding police brutality; UP-095-2006: BANGLADESH: Government names District Judge to conduct a judicial probe into the police brutality on journalists; RE: UP-089-2006: BANGLADESH: Government names the head of the judicial probe commission into the police brutality on journalists; UA-128-2006: BANGLADESH: Journalists beaten by the […]

BURMA: Violent crime by state officers causing lawlessness

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to you with regards to many serious allegations of brutal and oftentimes murderous violent crimes by state officers in Myanmar, which it understands should be a subject of concern for your office.  Some of the alleged cases that have come to the attention of the AHRC in […]

SRI LANKA:The case of Chamila Bandara, HC Kandy 231 of 2005 — The matter of the serving of the indictment on the accused

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 7, 2006 AHRC-OL-028-2006 An open letter to the Inter Ministerial Committee on Human Rights The Inter Ministerial Committee on Human Rights Thro- Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe Minister for Disaster Management and Human Rights Parliamentary Complex Colombo 1 SRI LANKA July 6, 2006 Dear Sirs, SRI LANKA: The case of Chamila Bandara, HC […]

INDIA: Plea bargaining and the ghost of Malimath

The Criminal Procedure Code of India has been amended to include a provision for plea bargaining with effect from 7 June 2006. The new chapter in the statute, Chapter XXI A, allows plea bargaining to be used in criminal cases where the prescribed maximum punishment is below seven years. Plea bargaining is not allowed in […]

SRI LANKA: Invitation to attend the murder trial of Gerald Perera at the Gampaha High Court on July 21, 2006

I am sure you are aware of the murder trial of Gerald Perera, a torture victim who was assassinated while waiting to give evidence in a trial against several police officers from the Wattala Police Station for severely torturing him. Prior to the assassination the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka held that these officers had […]

BANGLADESH: Judge grants bail to an alleged rapist in Dinajpur district despite having ample medical evidence and a police investigation report asserting the rape

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that an alleged rapist has been granted bail by a judge of the Special Tribunal of Women and Children Repression Prevention of Dinajpur District despite having persuasive evidence in the medical report and in the police investigation report of the perpetrator’s guilt. The victim […]

SRI LANKA: Close collaboration between the accused and the three police witnesses

Gerald Perera was fatally shot on November 21 2004 while waiting to give evidence before the Negombo High Court against several police officers who had been accused of causing serious injuries to him after he was arrested on mistaken identity.  A few days after the shooting he died of his injuries and was thus prevented […]

UPDATE (India): Delayed partial justice in a case of gang rape after 11 years

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is pleased to inform you that four of the accused persons in the rape and assault of a handicapped woman from West Bengal, Ms. Hasna Mandol, have been punished by the court. Ms. Hasna was tortured and raped on 27 February 1995. Today, the court sentenced three […]

THAILAND: Justice depends on witness protection

The Asian Legal Resource Centre has today, June 30, released a new report on witness protection in Thailand, the first in a planned series of detailed studies on specific institutional obstacles to human rights there.  Witness protection is all about the fight against impunity that is at the heart of human rights struggles worldwide. Without […]

UPDATE (Thailand): Petition to be presented to Ministry of Justice before July 19

[RE: UP-20-2005: THAILAND: Human rights lawyer still missing after nearly one year; Action needed today to have case transferred; UP-24-2005: THAILAND: Thai minister refuses to act on missing human rights lawyer case; UP-37-2005: Thai PM orders action on missing human rights lawyer, while court hears of torture; UP-45-2005: Wife of missing human rights lawyer intimidated; […]

SRI LANKA: ‘Murder of five Tamil youths highlights need to end impunity’ — Govt must protect witnesses to Trinco killings — HRW

The New York based Human Rights Watch, in a statement issued from its headquarters, expressed deep concern that the only prosecution witness, willing to testify into the killing of five youth in Trincomalee, allegedly by the security forces, was under threat and said the government should ensure the safety of witnesses.   The statement:   […]

CAMBODIA: Teacher assaulted by her superiors

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has just learned that Ms Em Ponny had been assaulted by three of her superiors on 17 June 2006. Em Ponny is a teacher at the Wat Mohamontrey primary school in Olympic commune, Chamcar Mon District, Phnom Penh, and is a member of an independent teachers union […]

UPDATE (Philippines): Court judge delays issuance of arrest warrants to military men charged with murder

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Justino G. Aventurado of Tagum City, Mindanao has yet to issue arrest warrants for a military official and his men charged with murder. Please see our previous appeal to read the background of this case: UA-72-2005. Aventurado has […]

UPDATE (Philippines): An appeal for the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Military and Other Law Enforcement Office to act on the recommendation of the Commission on Human Rights to file murder charges against the military

[RE: UA-216-2005: Soldiers kill nine farmers in Leyte, Visayas; UP-141-2005: Peasants were brutally massacred by soldiers; pregnant woman among the dead; UP-019-2006: PHILIPPINES: Possible irregularities in police investigation; survivor details brutal killings of peasants; UP-053-2006: PHILIPPINES: Commission on Human Rights (CHR) set to file charges against soldiers allegedly involved in killing peasants in Leyte] ———————————– […]

UPDATE (Thailand): Please sign petition to remove head of special investigation from post

[RE: UP-20-2005: THAILAND: Human rights lawyer still missing after nearly one year; Action needed today to have case transferred; UP-24-2005: THAILAND: Thai minister refuses to act on missing human rights lawyer case; UP-37-2005: Thai PM orders action on missing human rights lawyer, while court hears of torture; UP-45-2005: Wife of missing human rights lawyer intimidated; […]

BANGLADESH: Man killed by police torture in Gaibandha Sadar police station on the instruction of ruling party political leaders

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that Mr. Sajedur Rahman Sarkar Sajid, who was entrapped by the police and intelligence agents on the instruction of ruling political party leaders, was arbitrarily arrested on the evening of 18 May 2006. He was then detained in relation to a fabricated arms case […]