Torture

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Mr. R.K.L.G. Dingiri Banda on the serious security threat by two unknown men on 3 September 2004. Mr. Dingiri Banda is pursuing three cases against two army officers who are now captains regarding the severe assault on him which took place on 21 […]

Dear friends, It has come to the attention of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage Lionel Weerasinghe (33) was arbitrarily arrested and brutally tortured by police officers attached to the Yatawatta Police station on 16-17 July 2004. Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage was allegedly charged of stealing cinnamon worth Rs. 80,000 without any […]

The lack of qualified criminal investigators hampers the criminal investigations in Sri Lanka, C.R. de Silva, the Solicitor General of Sri Lanka was quoted as saying in an interview with the BBC Sinhala Service Sandeshaya on Sunday, 5 September 2004. What the Solicitor General said on this occasion is what all spokesmen for government agencies, […]

Reports from the Maldives in recent weeks indicate increasingly disturbing use of authoritarian powers by its government intended to suppress popular calls for democratic reform. After protests on August 13, President Gayoom declared a state of emergency, and mass arrests by the security forces followed, including of members of the National Human Rights Commission, former […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that A G Ravindra (26) was assaulted and illegally detained again on 23 July 2004 by the Katupota police for making a complaint against them regarding his previous torture and arrest (see UA-63-2004). The police also filed false charges against him in court, for which […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a human rights organization in Bangladesh that Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officials arbitrarily tortured and arrested Sha Newaz Tito, Munir Hossain Talukdar and Ziaul Alam Dipu in the Agrabad area of Chittagong, Bangladesh on 4 August 2004. The brutal torture led to the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from its partner organisation in West Bengal, Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM) that a pregnant Dalit woman, Lilabati Chowdhury, was brutally beaten by a police patrol party of the Beharampore police station at midnight on 7 August 2004. After the assault, Lilabati was admitted to […]

Dear friends It has come to the attention of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that a cleric, Qari Mohammad Noor, arrested last week for suspected al-Qaeda links has died in custody in controversial circumstances. While the post-mortem reports have not been disclosed to the public, human rights groups claim that there were marks of […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is happy to inform you that on 26 July 2004 the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka awarded one million rupees to the wife and three children of Mr. Lamahewage Lal Meddagoda (36) who had been tortured to death by the Negambo Prison officers on 7 November 2002. […]

SUMMARY The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned that four out of five torture victims represented by missing Thai lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit remain in custody, while the police officers allegedly responsible for their torture continue in their posts. The five men, who were accused of involvement in terrorist activities, were allegedly heinously tortured […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about the illegal arrest and torture of 24 year-old Halneththi Susil Indrajith Silva by the Paiyagala Police. Silva was standing outside his house when the police suddenly appeared. He went inside the house but the police forced themselves inside, dragged him out and beat […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received an another torture case from Welawa, Sri Lanka. According to the information we have received, a young man named Nanumuralage Roshan Jayaweera (26) was illegally arrested and brutally tortured by the Wariyapola police on 14 July 2004. In particular, when the victim went to the […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the case of Chamila Bandara, a 17-year-old boy who suffered from serious injuries due to being hung and beaten at the Ankumbura Police Station from 20 to 28 July 2003, has not yet been prosecuted under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) Act, Act […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned by the illegal arrest and assault of Mrs. M. Piyawathi by the Baduraliya Police on 31 May 2004. After the arrest, she was taken into police custody along with her 22-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son. Later, the Baduraliya Police charged her and her two […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received a copy of an affidavit signed at the remand prison in Kandy on 16 July (written in Sinhala) from Saman Priyankara, who suffered for the second time at the hands of several police officers from the Matale police station on 7 July 2004. The police […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned about the arrest, detention and torture of Wilfredo Damalerio and James Francis Defiesta, that took place on 27 June 2004 at about 9:00 am in Sitio Tagaytay, Barangay Mipangi, Nabunturan, Compostela Valley, Mindanao, Philippines. On allegation of being members of the New Peoples Army, soldiers […]

Dear friends Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC has been informed that Jayasekara Vithanage Saman Priyankara, a former torture victim, has been severely beaten up by police officers attached to the Matale Police Station and he is being held presently at the same police station. AHRC has learned that Saman Priyankara has been severely pressured during […]

Dear friends The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the illegal detention of Terrance Fernando from 21 February to 25 June 2004 at the Kaduruwela Police Station in Polonnaruwa. He was arrested without charge, tortured and detained for four months. After his release in June, Fernando was told that the crime he […]

Torture is the most serious obstacle to the advancement of human rights in Asia, whether civil and political rights or economic, social and cultural rights. This is because torture is the prime generator of fear, which inhibits people’s ability to react when other rights are threatened. Where large numbers of people decline to participate in […]

As the world commemorates the International Day against Torture 2004, the countries of South Asia continue to be known only for their collective record of endemic torture. From the pre-colonial period to the present day, horrendous torture has been a characteristic of law enforcement throughout the region. In virtually every police station of every South […]