Inhuman & degrading treatment

INDONESIA: One person killed, hundreds arrested and five persons charged with rebellion at Third Papuan People’s Congress

Dear friends, The AHRC has received information regarding the killing of at least one person and the arrest of hundreds of participants at the Third Papuan People’s Congress including Forkorus Yaboisembut and Edison Waromi on 19 October 2011 in Abepura, Papua. Concerns about the safety of the arrested persons and the need for an investigation […]

INDONESIA: Jayapura city district police and military arbitrarily torture and arrest Papuan civilians

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the arbitrary arrest and torture of 15 Papuan villagers, including several minors, in Horas Skyline village, Jayapura, Papua, committed by a joint team of Jayapura city district police and Cenderawasih military area command on 31 August 2011. Until now, there is no investigation […]

INDONESIA: Morowali district police shot and ill-treated protesters in Tiaka

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the shooting and ill-treatment of protesters by police between 22-24 August 2011 in Tiaka, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. During the protest for community rights against an energy company, held by the Student Alliance Front for North Bungku Utara and Mamosalato on 22 August 2011, […]

PHILIPPINES: Investigate two separate incidents of torture in Basilan

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received details about the torture of two men in separate incidents in Basilan, Mindanao. The group of soldiers who tortured one of them had previously been accused of torturing a boy. The two victims are presently in detention and being prosecuted over questionable charges.  CASE DETAILS: (based […]

PHILIPPINES: Tortured boy temporarily released to his parent’s custody

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that Asraf Jamiri Musa, a 17-year-old Education student, who was tortured inside a military camp and charged with illegal possession of explosives after evidence was planted on him, has been temporarily released from detention to the custody of his parents. UPDATED INFORMATION: In […]

PHILIPPINES: Soldiers torture a man and set him on fire

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that the soldiers tortured a member of an indigenous minority whom they falsely accused of being a member of an illegal armed group and set him on fire after pouring gasoline on him. The victim was tortured to force him to admit he […]

PHILIPPINES: An armed village chief and his men assaulted a tricycle driver

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that an armed village chief and his men severely assaulted a tricycle driver whom they wrongly accused of attempting to escape liability from an accident.  CASE NARRATIVE: (The summary of the sworn statement by Leonardo Borja written in Filipino)  At 10pm on August 10, […]

ASIA: The Societal Importance of the elimination of torture and ill treatment in the South Asian context

A summary of a presentation made to the Vigil India Movement, Bangalore by the Asian Human Rights Commission Each generation has its own challenges. Not long ago the great challenge was to dispel the foreign invader and to claim our land as our own. Today we face a far different challenge, which is, to become […]

PHILIPPINES: Ombudsman exonerates policemen ignorant of the law from liability

Dear friends,  Despite of our appeal, the Office of the Ombudsman also exonerated the policemen, who were responsible in filing a charge for “serious resistance and disobedience” on seven farmers and four minors, from liability for ignorance of the law. The charge that the police filed does not exist in the list of criminal offenses […]

PHILIPPINES: Concern over Ombudsman’s “closure and termination” of cases

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is from today publishing a series ofInvestigation Reports made by the Office of the Ombudsman on cases they have ruled as “closed and terminated” during the last five years. The AHRC is deeply concerned that the Ombudsman is arbitrarily using its power under the Ombudsman Act of 1989 to dismiss complaints on questionable grounds.  DETAILS OF TERMINATED CASES:  First […]

PHILIPPINES: Policemen who tortured a boy offers bribe, intimidates witnesses and complainants to withdraw prosecution

Dear Friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned that the witnesses and the family of torture victim, Jhon Paul Nerio, have either been offered bribes or are being intimidated after testifying in a trial against the policemen. The policemen were attempting to bribe them to retract their testimony and intimidate them to […]

BANGLADESH/PHILIPPINES: Why Filipinos must protest the attack on FMA Razzak?

Bangladeshi national FMA Razzak is the President of the Human Rights Development Centre (HRDC) and Editor of the Pakkhik Gonomichhil in Paikgachha of Khulna district, Bangladesh. On April 29, 2011, Razzak and his younger brother, Mr. Bodiuzzaman Bodiar; brother-in-law, Mr. Bakkar, were attacked after having been kidnapped by the relatives of an army major, Mustafizur […]

PAKISTAN: Child slavery — 20,000 children with small heads are run by the shrines for beggary

Malik Ayub Sumbal  No one knows about the reality and sad saga of these greenish veiled and shaved head individuals carried by their masters with a chain about their necks to get the sympathies of the masses for the sake of begging. The worst form of slavery in the name of religious tradition has become […]

BANGLADESH: Army officer’s family gouges eyes and torture after kidnapping Human Rights Defender FMA Razzak, who is going to die without treatment due to pressures from armed forces and intelligence agencies

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that human rights defender FMA Razzak is going to die without proper medical treatment due to tremendous pressures from the officials of the armed forces and intelligence agencies who have cordoned the whole area in plain cloth. Since 9:45AM today, 30 April 2011, Razzak is […]

PHILIPPINES: Hearing for administrative case on policemen who tortured a boy set for April 25

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that the People’s Law Enforcement Board (PLEB) in Kidapawan City, a quasi-judicial body who will hear the administrative case on five police officers, including a police commander, for torturing a 17-year-old boy, is set to be heard on April 25, 2011.  UPDATED INFORMATION:  […]

BANGLADESH: Rapid Action Battalion fabricated charges against two cousins after four days of incommunicado torture Tweet

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a military-dominated paramilitary force composed of armed forces and the police, held two cousins incommunicado for four days. The victims have been identified as Mr. Nahidul Haque Sazib and Mr. Kawsar Hossain Razib, who were arrested without any […]

PHILIPPINES: Torture of a 17-year-old boy at the Women and Children Desk at a police station

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that a 17-year-old boy was tortured on December 11, 2010 in the custody of the police. The victim, who revealed to his parents his ordeal only on February 26, 2011 due to trauma, was tortured at a police quarter and inside the Women […]

BANGLADESH: Police enjoy impunity for torturing a journalist

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has documented another case of severe torture, this time involving a senior journalist, Mr. Gias Ahmed (43), who works as Joint News Editor of a private television channel-Desh TV. Gias Ahmed was asked to get out of his private car in the afternoon on 14 February 2011 […]

BURMA: Family of accused denied prison visits; detainee reportedly held in dog kennels

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been closely following the case of a young man whom the authorities in Burma have accused of involvement in a bombing during April. Phyo Wai Aung has alleged that he was brutally tortured for nine days to force him to confess. According to the latest information, […]

INDIA: Assam police assaulted mother and daughter during mid-night at home

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Barak Human Rights Protection Committee (BHRPC), Assam concerning the case of assault of a 24 year-old-girl and her mother by the police in Cachar district, Assam. This incident occurred at midnight when the police were searching for a fugitive, Mr. Hussain Ahmed […]