Fabrication of charges

A Statement from Human Rights Defenders and Promoters (HRDP) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Violent crackdown on the students, monks, journalists, and supporting civilians demanding education reform on 10 March 2015 in Lepadan is totally unlawful and obviously violating the agreement that the government signed on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Civil […]

A Statement from Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) and the Former Political Prisoners Society (FPPS) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission Today – March 13, 2015 – the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) and the Former Political Prisoners Society (FPPS) announce the extension of the 2015 Palm Campaign in light of the […]

Over the last week Burma, or Myanmar, has witnessed the re-emergence of some of the most sinister methods of handling public demonstrations in its modern history. The police and civilian attack mobs have violently broken up demonstrations of workers and students in the former capital, Rangoon (Yangon), and the town of Letpadan to its north. […]

On December 10, 2014, we wrote about Renante Gamara, a labour activist, who was tortured and detained on fabricated charges. He was expecting a decision from the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Taguig City on his pending appeal to have charges against him dismissed. Gamara was arrested on April 3, 2012 in Las Pinas City, […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Udon Thani Environmental Conservation Group about the intensification of ongoing threats and surveillance of human rights defenders who are members of the group. They have been engaged in a long-standing struggle for community participation in decisions about potash mining in Udon Thani province. Similar […]

On 23 January 2013 the Criminal Court in Bangkok convicted Somyot Prueksakasemsuk of two violations of Article 112 of the Criminal Code. Somyot Prueksakasemsuk is a long-time labour rights activist and human rights defender. The Court found Somyot guilty on both charges, and he was sentenced to ten years in prison in this case, as […]

Public places in Bangladesh have become unsafe today for the people when protest rallies are held. Even without a public protest, person and property in the country does not have any guarantee to their security. The overall breakdown of law and order is of such state, that a pro-government group, or those protesting against the […]

A Statement from the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission During the latter half of January 2015, there are five cases handled by the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) to go on trial including; PDRC demonstration site bombing in Trat province (Black Case no. O1213/2557, Trat Provincial Court) […]

A Statement from the Australia West Papua Association (Sydney) forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission This report details incidents of human rights abuses and events that occurred in West Papua during 2014. It is by no means exhaustive. In the report AWPA uses the name “West Papua” to refer to the whole of the […]

On Monday, 29 December 2014, at 9 am in the Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok, Patiwat Saraiyaem and Pornthip Munkhong will appear before the court for the first time since being formally charged on 25 October 2014. They have been charged with violating Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code in relation to […]

by Basil Fernando The 13th of November (tomorrow) will be the 25th Death Anniversary of Rohana Wijeweera, the late leader of the JVP, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuana (The Peoples Liberation Front). It is perhaps an appropriate moment to recall the cruelty and the violence engaged in by the JVP as well as of the government security […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission is gravely concerned to have learned that on Sunday, 9 November 2014, the military detained Praphat Pintobtaeng, a lecturer from the Faculty of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University, and three additional people in Chiang Mai who were participating in a walk rally to protest the policy of the National Council […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the continuous persecution of human rights defenders in Gilgit and Baltistan, the occupied lands by Pakistan. Mr. Baba Jan and his associate Mr. Iftikhar Hussain were sentenced for the second time for life imprisonment by an Anti Terrorist Court (ATC) in Gilgit, […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that nine human rights defenders from Gilgit-Baltistan, including the President of the Supreme Appellate Court, Bar Association were charged for sedition for holding a protest in front of the office of United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) at Gilgit. […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes with deep concern with the continued detention of four political activists and five poor farmers. They are charged with murder. They allegedly attacked a police station, killing two policemen and wounding three others. Paraffin tests show they never fired a gun. Nevertheless, the prosecutor recommended indicting […]

The recent escalation in atrocities committed on Dalits is surprising even for Bihar, a province notorious for crimes against members of the community. The only things worse than the state’s failure to stop the crimes are the reasons the crimes are being committed. Can one really burn alive a 15-year-old child for the “crime” of […]

by Laksiri Fernando “Autobiography is about change; it narrates a series of transformations. This is an expectation we bring to any autobiographical text.”  –  Carolyn Barros When I picked Basil Fernando’s Nitignayekuge Papochcharanaya hewath Mage Kathawa(A Confession of a Lawyer or My Story), admirably written in excellent Sinhala, I got what I reasonably expected. It […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information from the Narmada Asargrast Sangharsh Samiti that 11 villagers jumped into the Narmada main canal in Boreli while 3 of them were arrested just before attempting that. The villagers were protesting the lack of compensation for families 25 years after being evicted from their village, […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to express grave concern about the arrest, interrogation, and harassment of four academics and three students during a public lecture on 17 September 2014 at Thammasat University in Bangkok. This is the latest in a series of actions by the authorities in the four months since the National Council […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that over 200 farmers from Pantanaw Township, Delta Region, are being prosecuted for using government confiscated lands. Some had permission to use their former land, but are now being prosecuted regardless of their legal rights. Around 60 farmers have already been sentencing to jail […]