Military

BURMA: Young man wrongly jailed on charge of inciting September protests

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been documenting cases of illegal arrest, detention and prosecution since the nationwide protests in Burma last September. In this appeal we give the details of the case of one young man who was arrested because of having some publications linked to those events and after a […]

BURMA: Young woman jailed for life without getting lawyer and in violation of many procedures

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned about the case of a young woman who was arrested coming into Burma from neighbouring Thailand and charged with illegal immigration, joining in illegal associations and sedition. The laying of charges and the passing of sentences against Ma Thanda were all in violation of […]

PAKISTAN: Death by hanging of a man set on March 12 after confessing due to torture by military

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the death sentence of a man from minority community, who is due to be executed on 12 March 2008. He was charged with murder however, he was allegedly severely tortured after the illegal arrest. It is also alleged that he was not provided […]

PAKISTAN: Repression of Aitzaz Ahsan needs to be immediately stopped

Pakistan is seeing the greatest political upheaval it has witnessed in its history as the people have given a clear verdict in defence of the judiciary. The position of the chief justice, ousted judges, and the lawyers’ movement has been vindicated by the people. In the years to come, the key question in Pakistan will […]

UPDATE (Burma): Family and human rights defenders threatened over complaint

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) regrets to inform you that since our appeal on the case of a child soldier who was jailed in 2005 (AHRC-UAC-016-2008) a number of persons involved in the case have been threatened by local authorities. His aunt, who made the complaint, is under watch, and two people […]

BURMA: Family given paltry compensation for death of porter in army service

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that the family of a man who was taken to serve as a porter for the Burma army was paid less than six US dollars as compensation for his death. The victim died in 2006 after he was taken from the central prison. Up […]

BURMA: Child soldier kept in jail since 2005

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received detailed information about the case of a child soldier in Burma who has been kept in jail since he was 15. The boy was allegedly illegally recruited over a year before and he ran away from his unit. A military tribunal sentenced him to prison, […]

THAILAND: Resurgent military threatens rights, law

(Hong Kong, December 10, 2007) Resurgent military authoritarianism has greatly undermined the rule of law and human rights in Thailand, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) said on Monday. In its annual report on human rights conditions in Thailand released to coincide with International Human Rights Day, December 10, the Hong Kong-based regional rights group […]

PAKISTAN: Rule of Law in general and Mr. Muneer Malik in particular

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following open letter from The Dutch Lawyers for Lawyers and Lawyers Rights Watch Canada Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ——- An Open Letter from the Dutch Lawyers for Lawyers and Lawyers Rights Watch Canada forwarded by the Asian Human Rights […]

WORLD: Arrested Lawyers of Pakistan’s democratic movement need international support now

The AHRC is sharing with you a list of the judges and lawyers that have been arrested, tortured or brought under house arrest since the enactment of emergency law in Pakistan by General Pervez Musharraf. However, this list is not complete. We therefore call upon the public to support the lawyers of the democratic movement […]

WORLD: Pakistan’s General Musharraf prepares for an ugly election

Since General Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency and dismissed the Supreme Court of Pakistan on November 3, appointing a mock bench in its place, over 3000 lawyers have been held in remand and many of the best known lawyers in the country are in hiding. Outspoken political leaders are under detention, while others, […]

PAKISTAN: Dubai-based TV channels forcibly shut down

Pressure applied by the government of Pakistan has caused officials in Dubai to order that the broadcasts of two popular television channels, Geo News and ARY, be cut as of midnight on November 16. Both channels are based in the UAE but for the most part broadcast news about Pakistan. According to the press reports […]

UPDATE (Indonesia): Fair trial not guaranteed in the prosecution of killers of four villagers under military court

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that thirteen suspects of the earlier reported extra-judicial killings have been released as their detention period has ended. However, there are still concerns that this case will likely be brought to the military court and a light sentence will be given to those responsible. […]

INDIA: Paramilitary unleashes brutality in Manipur injuring several innocent persons

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from human rights organisations in Manipur, India regarding the attack by an underground group against the government forces and a retaliatory strike by the government forces on September 30, 2007. It is reported that in the attack organised by the People’s Revolutionary Party of […]

BURMA: Challenge to the Burmese military junta: Dialogue with the people or face downfall!

Dear friends in the solidarity movement, Today, about 200,000 people rallied the streets in Burma (in Rangoon and different cities). The Buddhist monks are leading the pro-democracy rallies, defying military junta’s order for them to stay away from the street rallies or face legal action by the Ministry of Religious Affairs. With the escalation of […]

BURMA: Lawyers, monks determined to defy “forced politics”

BURMA: Lawyers, monks determined to defy “forced politics” (Hong Kong, September 26, 2007) Lawyers in Burma on Tuesday established a new union to introduce “genuine politics” to the country and defy what they called the regime’s “forced politics” as protests continued for a tenth day despite harsh warnings in the media and through loudspeakers on […]

MYANMAR/BURMA: Myanmar’s neighbours would benefit from its political transformation

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing to you concerning the dramatic and rapidly worsening events in Myanmar of the last few weeks, about which you are fully aware. Many persons around the world maintain that Myanmar’s neighbours are largely responsible for the propping up of its military dictatorship, which but for the Association […]

UPDATE (Burma): Monks on the march, boycotting military regime across country

Dear friends, The recent dramatic and historic developments in Burma, with thousands of monks taking to the streets, have received a lot of international attention in recent days. Here the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) gives a short summary of some of the latest events and also add comments and information on some incidents and […]

PAKISTAN: Photo-history of the 2007 lawyers’ movement in Pakistan published online

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in collaboration with the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) wishes to announce the publication of a pictorial book that documents the development of the lawyer’s movement throughout the recent tumultuous months in Pakistan. The book covers all the events that occurred between March and July 2007. The publication, entitled “People’s […]

PAKISTAN: The Asian Human Rights Commission condemns violence unleashed by the military regime leading to killing of 30 persons in Pakistan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AS-100-2007 May 13, 2007 A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission PAKISTAN: The Asian Human Rights Commission condemns violence unleashed by the military regime leading to killing of 30 persons in Pakistan The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the violence unleashed on peaceful protestors by the military dictator in Karachi, […]