Judicial system

The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, marking perhaps the greatest day of its 200 year history, today declared in a historic opinion that the Standing Order of the parliament, bearing no. 78/A, is null and void and has no effect in law. By this opinion, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has nullified the impeachment […]

We have self-made our destabilization. We are destabilizing ourselves and blaming others for destabilizing us. Our recent history is a history of decay. With each year, we are destabilized more than the previous year; our social organization has decayed more than the  previous year. Let us take our parliament, our police, our prosecutor’s  department (Attorney […]

The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC) is concerned at the circumstances surrounding the impeachment of the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, Shirani Bandaranayake, and at reports of attacks against the judiciary and the legal profession within Sri Lanka. The independence of the judiciary and the rule of law  The independence of […]

Basil Fernando The state media continues their non-stop misinformation campaign on the impeachment move by the government. Several ministers also participated in this media campaign. The central topics of the campaign are that it is the charges that are important, and not the process – meaning that whether the inquiry took place by a competent […]

“The court system is skewed against ordinary folk,” says Malinda Seneviratne, writing a comment on my last article. His argument is that the people will not defend the courts as the court system is skewed against the people. However, people do have a reason to defend even the highly inadequate and problem ridden justice system […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man was burned alive by an enraged mob while he was in the custody of the police, held on the charge of blasphemy. The man was taken into the custody of the police and was kept in a police station overnight. The […]

The inaction of the Laotian Government with regard to the enforced disappearance of Mr. Sombath Somphone on December 15th is worrying. The Asian Human Rights Commission joins the request made by civil society groups and the diplomatic groups inside Laos, and echoed by numerous international groups and institutions, including the European Union and the United […]

Within this week alone there were three events directed against the lawyers who are opposing the impeachment of the Chief Justice. These were: the attempted attack on the lawyer, Gunaratne Wanninayaka, the President of Colombo Magistrate’s Court Lawyer’s Association and the Convener of People’s March; the shooting incident near the residence of the President of the […]

(Hong Kong, December 20, 2012) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is publishing today a 24-page legal critique of two controversial decisions issued by the Supreme Court (SC), the People v. Lumanog and the Lejano v. People, in comparison to judicial decisions in common law countries. The case People v. Lumanog is about the SC’s decision affirming the conviction and sentence to […]

Abstract: This paper studies the decision of the Philippine Supreme Court on two cases, People v. Lumanog (Abadilla Five case) and Lejano v. People (Vizconde massacre case), in comparison to the theory and practice in common law countries on the protection of Constitutional rights on the issue of arrest and detention, self-incrimination, legal assistance and […]

The law enforcement agencies, the local court system and above all the government institutions are failing to protect the lives and properties of religious minorities all around the country. As in previous years, 2012 proved a nightmare for the religious minorities in Pakistan.  People from the Hindu, Dalit, Christian and Ahmadi communities and even the […]

Dear All Judicial Service Association (JSA), the association of the judges of the original court, had organised the Annual Judges Conference, sponsored by the UNDP — under the  Equal Access to Justice Programme, which is scheduled for 21 and 22nd of December 2012. This programme comes under the Ministry of Languages and Social Intrigration (Hon. […]

The government has withdrawn its sponsorship for the annual programme of the Judicial Service Association. On that basis this prevents the UNDP funds for being utilised for this meeting. However, it is reported that the judges will proceed with the meeting for one day with their own personal contributions. Obviously, the government has tried to […]

We, the undersigned note with extreme concern, the proceedings related to the impeachment hearing of the first woman Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Banadaranayake by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC). Any hearing, regardless of the person, must adhere to principles of natural justice and rule of law. In the case of the Chief Justice all those […]

The Lawyers Collective strongly condemns the assassination attempt on attorney-at-law Gunaratne Wanninayake and urges the Government to take all possible measures to prevent further such attacks. He is the convener of the Free March movement, a constituent group of the Lawyers Collective. The Lawyers Collective views with grave concern the continuing trend in instigating adverse […]

(Hong Kong, December 18, 2012) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is publishing below a letter written in prison from Temogen “Cocoy” Tulawie. Tulawie is an indigenous human rights activist from Sulu, southern Mindanao, now in prison facing fabricated murder charges in Davao City. In his letter received by the AHRC, Tulawie asked that the people of […]

Two Australian experts, Laureate Professor Cheryl Saunders AO and Professor Adrienne Stone, Director, Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies, have submitted a paper at the request of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) based in Hong Kong explaining the requirements for the removal of judges in Australia. The AHRC has referred the paper to the lawyers […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is pleased that Leila de Lima, secretary of the Department of Justice (DoJ), has recommended to President Benigno Aquino III the granting of a “conditional pardon” to the Abadilla Five. The Abadilla Five: Lenido Lumanog, Augusto Santos, Cesar Fortuna, Joel and Rameses de Jesus, are serving terms of life […]

The Asian Human Right Commission has learned that there was an attempt at the life of Gunaratne Wanninayaka, the President of Colombo Magistrate’s Court Lawyer’s Association and the Convener of People’s March. He has played a very prominent role in fighting for the independence of the Bar for several years. He has actively participated against […]

At the outset, we endorse wholeheartedly the appeal of the four Mahanayake Theros to the President to set aside the impeachment motion brought against the Chief Justice. It is a matter of grave concern to the people of the country that the Government through the accusations levelled against Chief Justice seem to have convinced itself […]