Freedom of expression

Fiji falls furthest, but big advance by Maldives Check your country ranking on: http://www.rsf.org/en-classement1003-2009.html Political power grabs dealt press freedom a great disservice again this year. A military coup caused Fiji (152nd) to fall 73 places. Soldiers moved into Fijian news rooms for several weeks and censored articles before they were published, while foreign journalists were […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that a team from the Rapid Action Battalion-10, a paramilitary force involved in maintaining law and order in Bangladesh, tortured a journalist at his house while in their custody, and detained him for more than ten hours. The soldiers made a fabricated video at his […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) continues to receive reports of violence being wrought by soldiers and police against civilians in remote West Papuan villages. In the latest case a joint operation responded to an illegal flag raising by the banned Free Papua Movement with indiscriminate violence against civilians. Soldiers have reportedly burned […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that intimidation tactics are being used against a group advocating labour rights. Men giving a military impression have been openly surveying the office in shifts and photographing visitors to the building. Three of the men also beckoned a volunteer to them, late one night. These […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission has learned that on 22 October 2009 Mr. F. M. Masum, a journalist of an English language national daily newspaper in Bangladesh, was tortured by members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), at his residence in Dhaka. The New Age newspaper reports that at around noon on Thursday a team […]

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM RANKING ASIA-PACIFIC Authoritarianism prevents press freedom progress in much of Asia Fiji falls furthest, but big advance by Maldives Check your country ranking on: http://www.rsf.org/en-classement1003-2009.html Political power grabs dealt press freedom a great disservice again this year. A military coup caused Fiji (152nd) to fall 73 places. Soldiers moved into Fijian news rooms […]

SRI LANKA: Journalist complains of death threats and unknown persons pursuing him (Hong Kong, October 21, 2009) Mr. Senaka Ekanayake, the editor of SATANA, a local newspaper, complained of constant death threats received over the last few days and of unknown persons visiting his house in search of him, in a telephone interview given to […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that three protestors, whom the police had brutally assaulted, arbitrarily arrested and tortured while in custody in May 2009, had been convicted for nine months over false charges of attacks and violence. The protestors were together with several villagers holding a peaceful demonstration […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that on September 14, 2009 the National Intelligence Service (NIS) sued Mr. Park Won-Soon, a human rights lawyer and civil activist, for civil defamation requesting a huge amount of money in damages. The AHRC is concerned that defamation will be used by public authorities […]

   Mr. Ranga Bandara, a Member of Parliament gave a live interview to the Asian Human Rights Commission, based in Hong Kong, on October 6th about the arson attack and about the political environment in which this attach took place. Following is a summary of the recorded interview: A group of people entered my premises […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the life of a journalist who has been twice arrested, tortured and remanded on tenuous charges, is in danger. Senake Ekanayake has complained to the National Human Rights Commission, the National Police Commission, the President and the Inspector General of Police about his illegal […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is pleased to let you know that a number of human rights defenders on whose behalf we have campaigned in recent years have been released from imprisonment in Burma, as well as some of those who were involved in the September 2007 protests.  DETAINEES RELEASED:  The AHRC […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is pleased to inform you that two journalists who had been imprisoned in 2008 for helping cyclone victims to contact international agencies have been released from prison. CASE DETAILS: As per our appeal in April (AHRC-UAC-033-2009), 24-year-old Ma Eint Khaing Oo and 29-year-old Ko Kyaw Kyaw Thant, […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a leading rights activist and partner of the AHRC has been accused of criminal defamation by the former deputy chief of Indonesia’s State Intelligence Agency, after he testified against the latter for his involvement in the murder of Munir Said Thalib. Munir is […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received detailed information about a case of extreme violence, corruption and impunity involving members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a ruling partner of the Zardari government. Police and high ranking officials are continuing to thwart all attempts by a young rape victim to prosecute MQM […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed of an ongoing case in Burma in which four men are being tried for having stickers of Aung San Suu Kyi. The men were arrested without basis and it was reportedly only after entering their houses that the police seized the stickers and accused […]

Dear friends,  Last year the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) issued an urgent appeal in the case of U Myint Aye, the leader of the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters group in Burma whom police and other officials arrested without giving a reason. Later the military regime there organised a press conference in which it […]

The International Press , which is comprised of representatives from the world¡¦s media community, including Reporters Without Borders, is extremely concerned over the ongoing spate of violent attacks against the media. However, in spite of the military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the deterioration of the press freedom situation in the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) regrets to have to inform you of yet another case of gross injustice and denial of human rights in Burma through that country’s “injustice system”. In this case, two elected parliamentarians have been sentenced to 27 years in jail each for organizing a group of their peers […]

Prime Minister Hun Sen is utilising much of the country’s electronic media to assert his leadership of the country and send out messages to his people through his public speeches at different functions. Now and again in such speeches he rebukes his critics and makes disparaging remarks and even or threats against them. At times, […]