Freedom of expression

Indonesia’s new democracy is facing its greatest threat to date. While the world’s attention is on whether President Wahid will stay in office or not some organisations have taken the opportunity to wipe out the main progressive, democracy-building organisations, openly calling it an \”anti-communist\” purge (even though the organisations may be completely unrelated to communism). […]

Following is an update from our friends in Indonesia regarding the 19 young activists detained after the labour law and oil prices protests in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. 7 of the 19 have been released thanks to efforts to date. The other 12 were denied access to lawyers and forced to sign statements by the police, and as a result are in danger of being convicted of serious offences carrying long prison terms, despite the miscarriage of justice involved. Please read this short update and send a letter to protest the unfair proceedings being used to stop these young activists from freely expressing their opinion about attacks on worker rights and unbearable costs of living. Your letter could help to free the remaining political prisoners. 

On September 29 a military intelligence officer used his gun to threaten the life of an opposition parliament openly in a busy street in Phnom Penh. As yet no action has been taken against this officer. Details are provided below in a Human Rights Watch press release. Following the press relese is a sample letter and the contact details for the Prime Minister of Cambodia and the chair of the Senate’s Human Rights Commission. Please write to them to try to keep democracy alive in Cambodia. 

Further to UA 32/00 \”Early Warning of likely escalation of election violence\”, as of 25th September, 13 had died from election-related violence since the campaign began. As of the 28th, the Centre for Monitoring of Election Violence (CMEV) had recorded 850 incidents of violence (or almost 35 per day), with indications that this level is rising even further (61 cases were recorded on September 27). Kindly see the CMEV website for further info: 
http://cpalanka.org/cmev.html 

Two young men have been killed in election-related violence in Sri Lanka in the first 5 days following the announcement of the National Elections to be held on October 10. Here is the sequence of events: 

URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT  ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM  AHRC UA Index: 000802 2 August 2000  —————————————————————  UA 29/00: Freedom of expression denied  MALAYSIA: Internal Security Act subverts due process  —————————————————————  We forward here two statements made by the reputed Malaysian organisation Aliran on the occasion of the […]

UA 20/00: Freedom of expression denied MALAYSIA: Roslan Kassim and Mohd Ezam and other opposition leaders arrested The Malaysian authorities arrested this morning Roslan Kassim from Keadilan. Roslan has been remanded for seven days. Keadilan politicians, Youth chief Mohd Ezam and exco member Gopalakrishnan have been detained. Police are believed to be looking for other […]

  It is reported that several arrests are taking place in Malaysia, which the human rights activists and observers describe as a crack down on the opposition. The most significant among them is the arrest of Karpal Singh who heads the legal team defending the former deputy Prime-Minister Anwar Ibrahim. He is charged with sedition […]

AHRC UA990302 Malaysia 02 March 1999 ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION URGENT APPEAL [UPDATE] October 1998, thousands of Malaysians from all walks of life came into the streets to peacefully protest the corruptions and the injustices perpetrated by the government of the day. This form of protest had never before been seen in Malaysia. 17 October […]

21 December 1998, Mr Seng Sok Kim and Mr Meas Minear, both staff of the Cambodian League for Promotion of Human Rights [LICADHO] were arrested by police. Mr. Seng Sok Kim is the Sihanoukville Coordinator of LICADHO. They were charged by the Sihanoukville Court for robbery and inciting people to riot. The Asian Human Rights […]

Zainur Zakaria, a lawyer defending former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim against criminal charges, was sentenced to three months jail for contempt of court on November 30, 1998. Zainur Zakaria was sentenced after refusing to apologize for submitting an affidavit alleging that prosecutors tried to fabricate evidence against Mr. Anwar. Mr Raja Aziz […]

Three lawyers have been harrassed for engaging in a case against the military implicated in the torture and murder of labour leader Rolando Olalia in 1986. The lawyers subject to harassment are Romeo T. Capulong, Marie Yuviengco and Rolando Rico Olalia of the Public Interest Law Centre. They are legal representatives of state witnesses in […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) expressed its concern over the killing of three prisoners and attacks on many others for more than an hour on 12 December 1997 in Kulutara Prison, which is located about 50 kilometres from the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo. The three who were killed and all other injured victims […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward an appeal from Amnesty International about the stabbing of a journalist in Papua Indonesia on March 3, 2011. For more information, please visit http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA21/004/2011/en Thank you. Urgent Appeals Desk Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) ———————————————————————– UA: 53/11 Index: ASA 21/004/2011 Indonesia Date: 03 March 2011 […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward an appeal from the Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka regarding the conditions and treatment of Tamil civilians in the north of the country. The government is still barring independent monitoring bodies and press members from entering the territory, making it impossible to […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is forwarding to you a statement issued by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka. For further information, please contact Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka through their website: www.jdslanka.org. Urgent Appeals Programme Asian Human Rights Commission —————————————————— URGENT ALERT 2011 January 31 | 6.22 GMT Sri Lanka : […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is forwarding to you an appeal letter issued by five Congressmen in the Philippines who are currently facing unjust restraint and the threat of arrest for their stance against the Arroyo government and the recent “state of national emergency”. The five are aware that were they to […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is forwarding a statement issued by the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee (CHRAC), a coalition of 18 prominent Cambodian local NGOs, regarding the arrest of Mr. Mam Sonando, director of Beehive Radio FM 105 on 11 October 2005. He was accused of defaming the Cambodian government because […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward an appeal received from MADPET (Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture) regarding a case of five human rights activists who were arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in Malaysia on 12 December 2007. The ISA allows detention without trial. All are now being […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is forwarding to you a statement issued by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka. For further information, please contact Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka through their website: www.jdslanka.org. Urgent Appeals Programme Asian Human Rights Commission —————————————————— URGENT ALERT 2011 January 31 | 6.22 GMT Sri Lanka : […]