Inhuman & degrading treatment

BANGLADESH: Penury keeps hounding the old and invalids in Gaibandha

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about several elderly people being pushed into starvation in the Palash Bari area of the Gaibandha district of Rangpur division. Most of these elderly people are living in penury with no family to look after them and are forced into begging or living on […]

NEPAL: Resettle inhabitants of Balapur with adequate compensation to save them from imminent inundation

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received worrying information regarding the imminent inundation and subsequent loss of livelihood for the inhabitants of Balapur Village, Mahadevpuri VDC, ward no. 6, Banke district. This follows a recent field visit undertaken with colleagues from FIAN Nepal. The inundation, caused by the completion of a canal […]

NEPAL: Ensure tapped water supply to Dalits of Duma in Mugu district

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding chronic water shortage plaguing the lives of Dalit residents of Duma village in Mugu district of Nepal during a field visit undertaken together with colleagues from FIAN Nepal. In absence of tapper water supply to their village, they have to fetch their water […]

PHILIPPINES: Police investigators concludes torture victims’ testimony as hearsay to justify refusal to prosecute policemen

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that the local police have concluded that it will not prosecute policemen accused of torture because the victims’ testimonies are hearsay. They will not take action unless they are “formalized as complaint”. We earlier asked for an investigation on the victims allegations that […]

INDONESIA: Victim of torture and fabrication of charges in Surabaya is left without reparation

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information from a local organisation on a case regarding the torture and fabrication of charges of a man by the police. The Supreme Court has found the man to be not guilty of theft as accused and ordered suitable rehabilitation to be granted to the victim. […]

INDONESIA: Two teenagers are arrested and detained for two weeks over fabricated charges in Paniai, Papua

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the arrest and detention of two teenagers based on fabricated charges in Paniai, Papua. The police arrested them after finding a woven bag filled with a cartridge and other materials associated with pro-independence movement, which did not belong to either of them but […]

INDIA: Roll back steep hike in user fee in the NTPC hospitals

Dear friends,             The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding an indefinite hunger strike (fast unto death) undertaken by the people affected by the steep hike in user fee in the Sanjeevani Hospital run in Shaktinagar by the National Thermal Power Corporation. The AHRC has learnt that […]

PHILIPPINES: Police and soldiers violently assault student protestors while they were sleeping to disperse them

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is requesting your intervention to demand that an investigation be conducted into allegations of the violent dispersal of protesting students. The students, who were opposing the appointment of the new head of a State university due to allegation of corruption, were attacked by joint forces of the […]

INDONESIA: Police officers tortured a priest in Paniai, Papua, and required a bribe for his release

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the torture of a priest in Pania, Papua, which took place on 2 March 2013. The priest was arrested and beaten by five police officers after randomly shouted in front of a police station. As a result, the priest was injured but the […]

PAKISTAN: The Supreme Court must ensure that Ahmadis should not be disfranchised

A Golden Opportunity to abolish self-contradictory Franchise System and Restore true Justice and Democracy in Pakistan The world has strongly and repeatedly drawn the attention of Pakistan to its self-contradictory franchise system which denies the Ahmadi Muslims the fundamental right to vote.( Click here to read our previous statement on the issue) The Supreme Court of […]

INDONESIA: Officer responsible for torturing 20 prisoners in Abepura is removed from office but criminal proceedings are yet to take place

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding the case on torture of 20 prisoners at Abepura Correctional Facility, Papua. After intervention from various human rights groups on the case, the Head of the correctional facility who was responsible for the torture was removed from his office earlier this month. […]

INDIA: An invitation, murder, and democracy

Article | India | 05-03-2013

When a business school invites persons to attend one of its functions, that too expecting the person to deliver nothing less than the keynote address, it must be taking into account many factors. Elementary is the invitee’s credentials, and in the background of the sponsors, who contribute to organise the event. It appears that the […]

PHILIPPINES: Vendors of the Luneta Park forcibly evicted

[RE: AHRC-HAC-004-2013: PHILIPPINES: Vendors face forced eviction and food insecurity] Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information Defend Job Philippines about the eviction of vendors of the Luneta Park. The National Parks Development Committee evicted the vendors from their livelihood places inside Luneta Park on 27 February, 2013 despite the protest […]

INDONESIA: Guards torture 20 prisoners at the Abepura Correctional Facility, Papua

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the torture of twenty prisoners at the Abepura Correctional Facility, Papua, on 21 January 2013. Information gathered by local activists reveals that the torture was conducted by three prison guards with the acquiescence of the head of the prison. The victims were beaten […]

INDIA: The great thamasha

Bijo Francis* Overcoming initial reluctance, the Maharashtra state police have finally registered a case in the infamous Bhandara rape and murder incident. This is a case, not much discussed in India, other than for sparse reporting in a few Indian dailies, of the rape murder of three sisters, all minors. Missing of three miserable village […]

INDONESIA: Seven Papuans are arrested and tortured on false allegations of having a relationship with pro-independence activists

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the arbitrary arrest and torture of seven Papuans which took place on 15 February 2013. The victims were driving home in two cars when the police stopped them as they were looking for two pro-independence activists. The victims were later brought to the […]

PHILIPPINES: Save 78 poor fisherfolk families from forced eviction and starvation in the Freedom Island of Paranaque City

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learnt about 78 families belonging to fisherfolk community facing threats of imminent eviction during a field visit undertaken by its Programme Coordinator for Right to Food Programme together with a representative of Defend Job Philippines. The local authorities had served the notice of eviction to these […]

NEPAL: Support for protest against impunity – 32 protesters arrested and manhandled during peaceful protests

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the arrest and manhandling of 32 peaceful protesters who had gathered in front of the Prime Minister’s residence in Balutawar, Kathmandu, on 25 January 2013. One of the protesters, a transgender activist, has been injured after being beaten by four policemen during the […]

PAKISTAN: Police protect perpetrators who poisoned a young man after sexually assaulting him

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a 19-year-old tea vender was sodomised and poisoned, and that he later died in hospital. The rapists threw him in the mud after sodomising him, intending that he should die on the roadside. Police have still not arrested any perpetrator; instead, they have […]

PAKISTAN: For the arrest of one guerilla leader, military units kill more than fifty innocent citizens, including women and children

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that military units have bombarded more than a dozen villages in three districts of Balochistan based on information about the presence of a guerilla fighter fighting for the independence of Balochistan. Independent sources claim that more than 50 persons, including women and children, were […]