BURMA: Abused Child Worker Who Seeks Justice Suffers Further Abuse in Courtroom

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) recently brought you details of a case in which police conspired with the employer of a young girl who allegedly abused and murdered her to cover up the facts (AHRC-UAC-136-2012). In this Urgent Appeal […]

Burma: Rights Lawyer’s Passport Confiscated, AHRC Writes to Govt

The Asian Human Rights Commission on Thursday wrote to the government of Burma calling for a human rights lawyer to have his confiscated passport returned.

In a letter to home affairs minister U Hla Min, the AHRC executive director Wong Kai Shing said that U Aung Thein had had his license confiscated at the airport on return from a meeting in Hong Kong at the end of July […]

Burma: AHRC Welcomes Release of Phyo Wai Aung; Calls for Redress

The Asian Human Rights Commission has welcomed the release from prison on an amnesty today of Phyo Wai Aung, a young man falsely accused, tortured and imprisoned over the April 2010 bombing, and has called for him and other freed victims of gross abuses of human rights in Burma to receive rehabilitation and redress […]

Burma: Human Rights Lawyer Gets Licence Back

A lawyer who had lost his licence for political reasons among 32 on whose behalf the Asian Human Rights Commission has been campaigning since last year has been informed that he can now again practice law.

In a letter dated July 9, the Supreme Court informed U Robert Sann Aung that it had decided to allow him to practice again, after almost 20 years of disbarment […]

Burma: Questions About Torture & Death in Custody of Young Woman; Arrest of her Partner

The Asian Human Rights Commission has followed closely reports since March of the death in custody of a young woman, Nan Woh Phan, in Rangoon, Burma, followed in May by the arrest and detention of her partner for alleged illegal business activity. The commission is concerned that whereas by now the family of the victim should have expected some progress towards identifying and prosecuting those persons responsible for her death, and other actions taken to address the systemic causes of her death, instead officials in Burma seem more concerned to pursue cases against her partner in a manner that raises many questions about their actual intentions and interests […]

Burma: Critical Questions About Communal Violence

The Asian Human Rights Commission shares the worldwide concern about the communal violence in Arakan (Rakhine) State in Burma over the last fortnight, which has received widespread reportage in the international media, and joins in calls for its earliest cessation […]

Open Letter to the President of Burma and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh

The Asian Human Rights Commission is taking the unusual step of writing to you jointly today with regards to the ongoing communal violence in the Rakhine State of Myanmar, which borders Bangladesh; violence that has been […]

Burma: Release Critically Ill Phyo Wai Aung Without Delay

An Open Letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission to the President of Burma, Thein Sein.

Dear Mr. President:

You will be aware that the case of 32-year-old Phyo Wai Aung, accused of involvement in the April 2010 bombing of the Burmese New Year’s water festival in Yangon, has attracted a great deal of attention both in your home country and abroad […]

Cynical Manipulation of Legal System Prefigures Continued Authoritarianism

Two cases in Burma’s courts that recently have attracted some public attention reveal aspects of a legal system being cynically manipulated, aspects that afford strong guarantees for the continuation of authoritarian practices and mentalities […]

BURMA: National Reconciliation Through Hostage Taking

Among the many analyses of the release of a couple of hundred political prisoners in a total of over 6000 detainees let out of Burma’s prisons last week, the most precise and succinct came from a famous comedian, Zarganar. Imprisoned for criticising the relief effort […]