State of emergency & martial law

PAKISTAN: A military coup is unfolding

in Pakistan, but, this time, there is no rumbling of tanks on the streets of Islamabad. Instead, it seems the military is using a new strategy for regime change in Pakistan, one that will have adverse consequences for Western troops deployed in Afghanistan. A year after rogue elements of Pakistan’s intelligence services disrupted Indian-Pakistani peace […]

BURMA: Five men are charged without evidence for allegedly forming an illegal group

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has obtained the details of yet another group of people in Burma who have been charged without evidence for alleged anti-government activities. Five young men have been accused of setting up an illegal group and trying to contact other groups based in Thailand. There is no actual […]

UPDATE (Burma): Further information on the imprisonment of Mar Mar Aye

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has obtained further and more detailed information on the case of Ma Mar Mar Aye, on whose imprisonment we recently issued an appeal. According to this information, the primary reason for her imprisonment was not the T-shirts that the police removed from her house, as previously reported, […]

UPDATE (Burma): Two journalists among prisoners released from jail

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is pleased to inform you that two journalists who had been imprisoned in 2008 for helping cyclone victims to contact international agencies have been released from prison. CASE DETAILS: As per our appeal in April (AHRC-UAC-033-2009), 24-year-old Ma Eint Khaing Oo and 29-year-old Ko Kyaw Kyaw Thant, […]

BURMA: Woman imprisoned after one-day trial for having some T-shirts

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has obtained information on another recent case of gross injustice and denial of fundamental rights in Burma, this time arising from possession of some T-shirts. Police arrested Ma Mar Mar Aye at her house in August after misleading her into thinking that she would come back home […]

BURMA: Monk falsely accused of planning to set fire to himself

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has obtained detailed information about the case of a monk in Burma who is being tried without evidence for insulting religion. The monk, U Sandadhika, went like other onlookers to the outside of the court where Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her co-defendants were being tried […]

BURMA: Four men tried for having stickers of Aung San Suu Kyi

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed of an ongoing case in Burma in which four men are being tried for having stickers of Aung San Suu Kyi. The men were arrested without basis and it was reportedly only after entering their houses that the police seized the stickers and accused […]

UPDATE (Burma): Three innocent men are tortured into confessing to a bomb plot

Dear friends,  Last year the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) issued an urgent appeal in the case of U Myint Aye, the leader of the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters group in Burma whom police and other officials arrested without giving a reason. Later the military regime there organised a press conference in which it […]

BURMA: Two elected MPs given 27 years for writing letter to UN

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) regrets to have to inform you of yet another case of gross injustice and denial of human rights in Burma through that country’s “injustice system”. In this case, two elected parliamentarians have been sentenced to 27 years in jail each for organizing a group of their peers […]

BURMA: Licences of lawyers revoked for merely representing their clients’ wishes

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has previously reported on the case of two human rights lawyers who were sentenced to four months’ imprisonment each for contempt of court, because they withdrew their powers of attorney on the wishes of clients who cited the reason as a lack of faith in Burma’s judicial […]

BURMA: Case against Aung San Suu Kyi exposes ‘injustice system’

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been closely following the case against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and three other persons since their arrest in May 2009, which is a clear product of what has been described as Burma’s ‘injustice system’. In this appeal we give some basic details of the case […]

BURMA: Journalist jailed on wrong charge for shooting video of referendum vote

Dear friends,  Last week the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) issued an appeal on the case of two journalists jailed in Burma for trying to help people left homeless after Cyclone Nargis to visit international agencies. In this appeal we bring the case of another journalist jailed in Burma, in his case for taking video […]

BURMA: Two journalists imprisoned for helping cyclone victims visit international aid groups

Dear friends,  In June 2008 after Cyclone Nargis devastated the Burma delta, a group of homeless residents went to request assistance from offices of international agencies in Rangoon. At that time, two reporters for local news journals went along with them. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in this appeal is bringing you details of […]

BURMA: Nine people convicted without admissible evidence over protests

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has closely followed and issued appeals on many of the cases that arose from the September 2007 nationwide protests against military dictatorship in Burma. Here we bring you details of a number of related cases that were among the large numbers of those decided late in 2008. […]

BURMA: Citizenship of family revoked and members given long jail sentences

Dear friends,  In recent weeks there has been a great deal of news internationally about the plight of Rohingya leaving from western Burma in boats whom navy and security personnel of Thailand have pushed back into the ocean. In order to illustrate some of the problems that they face in Burma, the Asian Human Rights […]

BURMA: Three men sentenced in another evidence-free case

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been collecting and documenting cases of illegal arrest and imprisonment of persons accused in relation to the September 2007 protests in Burma. In this appeal we give the details of another three persons who in December were convicted without evidence on charges of having attempted to […]

BURMA: Another 14 people wrongly convicted over September 2007 protests

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been collecting and documenting cases of illegal arrest and imprisonment of persons accused over the September 2007 protests in Burma. In this appeal we give the details of another 14 persons who in November were convicted without evidence on a variety of offences.  CASE DETAILS  The […]

BURMA: Thirteen people wrongly convicted over alleged illegal organization

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received detailed information on the case of 13 people who have been imprisoned for supposedly having set up and participated in an illegal organization that was involved in the September 2007 protests against the government in Burma. The group have been convicted even though a like […]

BURMA: First charges against monk who led protests and 10 others now going to court

Dear friends, In the latest in the series of cases of persons involved in last September’s mass protests in Burma, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) brings you details of the first charges against one of the monks who were at the forefront of the Saffron Revolution. After being held illegally for around 10 months […]

BURMA: Police lie about date of arrest to illegally detain and imprison five people

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about five activists in Burma who have been imprisoned for attending a gathering and meeting with American embassy staff around the time of anti-government protests last September. Apart from not following the laws of evidence in making the case against the five, the police […]