Death in custody

BANGLADESH: Suspicious death of a man in police custody

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man was found dead during Batiaghata police custody on 7 March 2008 in Khulna district, Bangladesh. Police claimed that he committed suicide. However, the dead body showed several injuries. Police conducted a self-inquest on this incident in violations of the Criminal Procedure […]

BURMA: Family given paltry compensation for death of porter in army service

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that the family of a man who was taken to serve as a porter for the Burma army was paid less than six US dollars as compensation for his death. The victim died in 2006 after he was taken from the central prison. Up […]

BANGLADESH: Man arrested over false charges dies in police custody

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that a man, Morshed Rana, died in police custody following his arrest on false charges on 28 October 2007. The police tried to cover up his death by claiming that he either fell sick or had been injured after jumping from a police […]

BANGLADESH: A 65-year-old man allegedly tortured to death by police

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the death of a man in custody of the Kotwali Police 2 July 2007. He allegedly died in the hospital after four days of detention in the police station. Even though the dead body clearly showed bruises and remarks, the police reports were […]

SRI LANKA: Yet another custodial death in Ratgama police

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you of yet another death of a man, Thadallage Chamil Weerasena (29), in custody of the Ratgama police following his arrest on 21 July 2007. Before he died, he told one of his friends that the police had mercilessly beaten him and shown […]

BURMA: Two more alleged killings in police custody; no investigations

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has information of two more alleged killings by the police in Burma that appear to have been successfully covered up. Although in both cases complaints have been made to the authorities, no action is known to have been taken against any of the accused officers. After both […]

INDIA: An ailing man died in the custody of Border Security Force( BSF) due to lack of medical help

[NOTICE: To facilitate your intervention of the urgent appeals issued by the AHRC, we have developed a new automatic letter-sending system using the “button” below. However, in this appeal, we could not include e-mail addresses of all the Indian authorities. We encourage you to send your appeal letters via fax or post to those people. Fax numbers and […]

UPDATE (Bangladesh): Investigating officer changed six times on the alleged custodial death of a man; the case extraordinarily drags on

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information about the custodial death of Mr. Sajedur Rahman Sarkar Sajid (please see UA-190-2006 and UP-147-2006). We were informed that the Bangladesh authorities have recently changed the investigation officer (IO) of the case for the sixth time, while none of the previous investigators have completed the investigation […]

UPDATE (Burma): Further details of cases against person accused of treason & other offences

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received further detailed documentation on the cases against one of the eight men appealing their conviction for treason in Burma (UA-017-2007). The accused, Sai Nyunt Lwin, was the general secretary of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, a registered political party. However, he was sentenced to […]

BANGLADESH: A man died due to alleged custodial torture

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man was allegedly tortured to death in the custody of the police in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 1 December 2007. After the police and narcotics officials arrested him from his house, he was found dead in a private hospital. His family members witnessed […]

CAMBODIA: Forced eviction of 229 families in Sihanoukville

[NOTICE: The AHRC have developed a new automatic letter-sending system using the “button” below. However, in this appeal, we could not include e-mail addresses of some of the Cambodian authorities. We encourage you to send your appeal letters via fax or post to those people. Fax numbers and postal addresses of the Cambodian authorities are […]

INDIA: Custodial death of a man who was victimized of consecutive police remand

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from its local partner MASUM in West Bengal regarding the death of a man due to custodial negligence in the state of West Bengal on 22 November 2006. It has been reported that the victim had spent more than one month in remand before […]

PHILIPPINES: Delays in prosecution causes prolonged detention of two farmers

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you about the prolonged detention of two farmers in Davao Oriental province, the Philippines. Both of them have been detained for almost three years without any progress in their case because the prosecution witnesses failed to appear in court on six occasions. One of […]

THAILAND: Apology for Tak Bai must be followed by prosecutions

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to draw your attention to important developments in the case of 78 persons killed in the custody of the Royal Thai Army after being arrested at Tak Bai, Narathiwat on 25 October 2004, and some six others killed in the course of a protest outside the district […]

NEPAL: A travesty of justice – military personnel who tortured 15 year old Maina Sunuwar to death must be tried by a civil court

Statement | Nepal | 04-09-2006

Maina Sunawar was 15 years old when members of the Nepalese armed forces arbitrarily arrested her. Since this date – February 17, 2004 – she has disappeared. All the evidence indicates that she was tortured to death by members of the military, who have since sought to deny her arrest and cover up her death. […]

UPDATE (Bangladesh): Sajid’s family under threat from ruling political party leaders

Dear friends, In June 2006 the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) informed you about the death of Mr. Sajedur Rahman Sarkar Sajid in the Gaibandha police custody by the instructions of ruling political party leaders (please see UA-190-2006). We have now received updated information regarding the incident detailing that Sajid’s family was seriously threatened and intimidated […]

SRI LANKA: Sixth day of mourning against executive interference into the judiciary and other independent institutions — Sri Lanka is ceasing to be a law based society

The numerous appointments to key national commissions by the executive president, contravening constitutional requirements, are a very clear indication of Sri Lanka’s drift from a law-based society to one in which the law plays a significantly reduced role.  While criticism against presidential actions has pointed to matters including the fact that no person is above […]

NEPAL: Supreme Court ruling on the Royal Commission for Corruption Control and the release of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba welcomed

Statement | Nepal | 14-02-2006

The Asian Human Rights Commission welcomes the landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of Nepal on Monday February 13, 2006, which declared the controversial Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) unconstitutional and ordered it to be scrapped immediately. This has paved the way for the release of ousted Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who had […]

UPDATE (Bangladesh): Three detained and tortured leaders have been released from prison in Chapainawabganj

[RE: UP-013-2006: BANGLADESH: Three persons tortured by the Chapainawabganj police; UA-041-2006: BANGLADESH: Eight people killed and at least one hundred injured by police fire in Chapainawabganj district; UA-013-2006: BANGLADESH: Two people killed and thirty-five injured by police fire in Chapainawabganj district] ———————————– UP-016-2006: BANGLADESH: Three detained and tortured leaders have been released from prison in […]

UPDATE (Sri Lanka): Four police officers, including a Sub Inspector of Police, arrested over the murder of Lalantha Fernando

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that four police officers, including a Sub Inspector of Police, have been arrested regarding the murder of Lalantha Fernando. (To see full details of this case please refer to UA-191-2005). Lalantha Fernando was abducted from his house on 10 October 2005 and brutally assaulted […]