Judicial system

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Nervazhi, a human rights organisation based in Kerala, concerning the case of torture and intimidation of a family by the local police in Ernakulam district of Kerala state. The police, reportedly after accepting offers of bribe, abused, tortured and threatened the family asking […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to draw to your attention the case of a young man in Burma who has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for allegedly sending some politically oriented photographs through the Internet. Aside from the trivial nature of the offence and the fact that the police […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that working journalists and newspapers employees of Pakistan have been denied an increase in minimum wages since 1996. Due to the ongoing litigation in the higher courts the owners of the media houses are enjoying the benefits of the delay in justice. The 7th […]

(Hong Kong, February 28, 2011) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is publishing this podcast interview with Mr. Bijo Francis, a human rights lawyer from India and programme officer of the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), regarding his comments and opinion on the trial of the Maguindanao Massacre case.  Bijo has handled numerous human rights […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following press release from the Cambodian Center for Human Rights. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- A Press Release from the Cambodian Center for Human Rights forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Press release – Phnom Penh, 22 […]

Basil Fernando For the last 20 years I have been living in Hong Kong. Here over 98% of the population is Chinese. I belong to the small minority which includes many other races and will try to illustrate some issues by using this experience. In any country there is a formal legal system and an […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) brings you details of the latest case in which a group of democracy and human rights activists has been accused of involvement in a series of bombings. The seven were already sentenced to over 30 years in prison in 2008 and have again been sentenced to another […]

Sri Lanka will be celebrating its independence from the British Empire on February 4, 2011. The lamentation that independence has not meant a great deal to the people of Sri Lanka is commonly heard. However, the causes that created this situation have often not been examined. The very meaning of independence for citizens of any […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has obtained the details of a case in which six men in 2010 were accused of having contact with an insurgent group in the east of Burma. Soldiers and police arrested five of the six villagers, the other one getting away. Of the five men detained, one […]

The integrity of a republic and the determination of its people depend upon the legitimacy of their government. Since declaring the Union of India to be a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic that assures its citizens justice, equality, and liberty and to be a nation that endeavours to promote among them all fraternity, 61 years […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been closely following the case of a father and son both of who have been imprisoned because the latter was arrested while taking photographs of a bombing in Rangoon during April 2010. The authorities have accused the two of intending to send the photographs abroad and […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned of another case of 12 persons in Burma given long jail sentences for alleged anti-government activities. In fact, the state prosecution had no evidence against the accused and the judge convicted them, as in other cases of this sort, on the say-so of the police. […]

Sofie Rordam Sri Lankan citizens are protected against torture and arbitrary arrest in sections 11, 12 and 13 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka. In addition Sri Lanka has ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture and Cruel and Inhuman Treatment in 1994. While the legislation is there, the effectuation is not. The gap between […]

Yesterday we published an open letter relating to false and defamatory material which also amounted to the publication of a death list. Kindly see : SRI LANKA: AHRC tells the Canada-based Sri Lankan intellectual to stop distribution of false and defamatory material and a death list, at: http://www.humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-news/AHRC-OLT-001-2011. We have subsequently received replies from Dr. […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that Merceditas Gutierrez, head of the Office of the Ombudsman, has pledged to resolve the complaint of torture of the Abadilla Five that has been pending in their office since January 2003 “in a week”.  UPDATED INFORMATION:  On January 3, 2011, the family members […]

เรียนทุกท่าน เราขอส่งต่อจดหมายเปิดผนึกของ นางอังคณา  นีละไพจิตร ภริยาของนายสมชาย  นีละไพจิตร ทนายความมุสลิมที่ถูกบังคับให้สูญหาย เกี่ยวกับการสอบสวนคดีนายสมชาย การคุ้มครองพยาน และการบังคับบุคคลให้สูญหาย ที่มีถึงนายกรัฐมนตรี มายังท่าน คณะกรรมาธิการสิทธิมนุษยชนแห่งเอเชีย ฮ่องกง ————- เพื่อการเผยแพร่ทันที AHRC-FOL-001-2010-TH 23 ธันวาคม 2552 จดหมายเปิดผนึกของ นางอังคณา  นีละไพจิตร ที่มีถึงนายกรัฐมนตรีประเทศไทย ส่งต่อโดย คณะกรรมาธิการสิทธิมนุษยชนแห่งเอเชีย ประเทศไทย: ต้องการการเร่งรัดการสอบสวนกรณีการหายตัวไปของนายสมชาย การคุ้มครองพยานอย่างมีประสิทธิภาพ และการออกกฎหมายให้การบังคับบุคคลให้สูญหายเป็นอาชญากรรม 23 ธันวาคม 2552 กราบเรียน  ฯพณฯ นายกรัฐมนตรี สำเนาถึง    ท่านรัฐมนตรีว่าการกระทรวงยุติธรรม ท่านอธิบดีกรมสอบสวนคดีพิเศษ นับแต่ท่านเข้ารับตำแหน่งนายกรัฐมนตรี พร้อมทั้งได้แถลงต่อสาธารณะ ถึงแนวคิดจะตั้งคณะทำงานพิเศษเพื่อรื้อฟื้นคดีสำคัญที่สังคมให้ความสนใจ เนื่องจากในรัฐบาลที่ผ่านมา คดีสำคัญหลายคดีถูกวิพากษ์วิจารณ์ และถูกมองว่า ไม่ได้รับความเป็นธรรม ถูกทำให้ล่าช้า อีกทั้งผู้เสียหายยังถูกขัดขวางในการเข้าถึงความยุติธรรม ซึ่งหนึ่งในคดีต่างๆนั้น คือ คดีการบังคับให้สูญหายนายสมชาย นีละไพจิตร จนปัจจุบัน ที่รัฐบาลภายใต้การนำของท่าน ได้บริหารงานครบ […]

We hope that wishing for a happy new year in Sri Lanka is not just mere wishful thinking. We wish: 1. That Rizana Nafeek, facing a death sentence in Saudi Arabia, will be released as soon as possible. This wish can become true only if the Sri Lankan government makes all the diplomatic efforts to […]

The simmering debate between three senior judges in India, involving the suspect in a criminal case and a former Union Minister from Tamilnadu state, Mr. A. Raja, and his alleged attempt to influence the court to obtain bail for the suspect with the assistance of the former Chairperson of the Tamilnadu and Pondicherry Bar Council, […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) welcomes with reservations President Benigno Aquino III’s order to withdraw the charges against 43 health workers, collectively known as ‘Morong 43′, as reported today. We strongly believe, based on the documents and information that we have also obtained, that they should have not been arrested, detained, and forced to […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission received information that Muslim fundamentalist and extremist groups have advocated publicly that a Christian lady, Aasia Bibi, sentenced to death under the blasphemy laws should not be pardoned. Some have offered a cash reward for Aasia’s assassination. Since the introduction of 295-C to the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) […]