Freedom of expression

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that a criminal investigator restrained and struck a fisheries union leader while he was detained at Negombo Police Station. Though police assault is classified as torture under Sri Lankan law it remains common and little addressed, and must be met with a criminal investigation. The […]

The banning of books by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and the withdrawal of movies by the Film Censorship Board (LSF) in the name of public order and state unity are unacceptable, as they contribute to the culture of impunity in Indonesia and are a serious attack on the freedom of expression. Without discussing human […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that police have tortured a 30-year-old man to force him to confess a theft and kept him under illegal detention for nine days. The police also let him be beaten up by villagers after announcing his ‘confession’. He was arrested along with three other […]

While the military regime in Burma has iterated that it will hold a general election for a new legislature before the end of 2010, government officials have been relentlessly pursuing, intimidating and imprisoning political opponents. In recent weeks the Asian Human Rights Commission has issued appeals on a number of such cases, including the sentencing […]

After last year’s by and large peaceful general elections, Indonesia is internationally accepted as a democratic country that upholds fundamental human rights. Within ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), Indonesia tries to position itself as a regional vanguard of human rights protection, as last witnessed by its role in the creation of an ASEAN human […]

Basil Fernando The voice of Manorani Saravanamuttu was heard loudly during the last decade of the twentieth century, protesting strongly against disappearances in Sri Lanka. The voice of Sandya Ekanaliyagoda is now heard on the same issue. Both voices are echoing the similar voices of tens of thousands of mothers, wives, sisters and daughters of […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has already issued an open letter on the case of Dr. Wint Thu and eight other people who in December 2009 were given long jail terms for alleged offences against the state in Burma after they were tortured into giving confessions that the police used in court. […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the disappearance of journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda shortly after he wrote articles supporting the presidential opposition candidate. His office was ransacked shortly after, the website he writes for was blocked during the election, and there have been delays and flaws in the police investigation. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned about the health and security of a journalist who was extensively tortured by the Kotowali police in Rangpur, and is now in hiding. He sustained various injuries while being tortured in a police van, and was arbitrarily detained, before being faced with clearly fabricated charges […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been closely following the case of democracy activist Kyaw Zaw Lwin, whom the military regime in Burma has accused of involvement in a bombing plot. Authorities at the airport arrested him in September 2009 and he has been tried for a number of offences but none […]

A journalist was attacked and seriously injured by office bearers of a political party, the Sindh Nationalist Front (SNF), on December 31, 2009, near the Hyderabad Press Club, Hyderabad City, Sindh province. A senior newspaper journalist, Mr. Mohammad Hussain Khan, was attacked and injured when he was on the way to the Press Club. He […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Right Commission (AHRC) has been informed that the Indonesian police shot at, arrested and intimidated peasants who were protesting against the alleged illegal occupation of their land by a government-owned plantation company. The land workers have been protesting regularly for years, but rather than address their concerns, the local authorities […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is seeking your support in calling upon the members of the Philippine Congress to revoke Proclamation No. 1959, which has been signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and has declared a state of martial law in Maguindanao. It suspends the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, and […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is closely monitoring the investigation into the massacre in Maguindanao on November 23, which left 57 people dead, among them two human rights lawyers and 30 local journalists. The AHRC is deeply concerned for the safety of three journalists who escaped. More than a week into the […]

(“We don’t care about it, we don’t know about it” – the Acting Head of the Provincial Police)     As it has been widely reported, 57 people-including two human rights lawyers and 30 journalists – were slaughtered on November 23 in Maguindanao, a province in central Mindanao. While much of the stories and worldwide […]

On 23 October 2009, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights defenders, Ms. Margaret Sekaggya (Uganda), called on States in the Third Committee of the General Assembly to do away with laws that required NGOs to register before they could operate. She was concerned that States were increasingly using security and counter-terrorism laws or more […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Right Commission (AHRC) continues to receive reports of violence perpetrated by police officers against peaceful demonstrators. Most recently police officers attacked a demonstration being held by members of the motorcycle taxi community (known as Ojeg) and the Bau–Bau Legal Aid Institute in Bau–Bau City, injuring six protestors. Though an internal […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned that no one has been held accountable for the shooting of indigenous Papuan Mr. Opinus Tabuni over a year ago during an operation by armed forces, and no progress has been seen in the investigation. Mr. Tabuni was shot dead in Wamena during a celebration […]

Reporters Without Borders was extremely concerned about two rulings clamping down on electronic media that represent a very serious backward step. Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has ordered some radio stations not to broadcast BBC Urdu-language news programmes, while Parliament is preparing to ratify drastic censorship dating from the era of General Pervez Musharraf. […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that two anti-corruption activists have been accused of defamation by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), after their group publicly pointed out a multi-trillion rupiah gap in the AGO’s annual budget and called for an investigation. The case raises questions about the use of the […]