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A Publication
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03 July, 2015

Amnesty International Should Break Its
Public Silence On Christine Mehta’s Deportation

By Ramesh Gopalakrishnan

Curiously, both Amnesty International’s International Secretariat and AI India remain silent on Mehta’s deportation even after she published her account. This is very unlike Greenpeace India, which has consistently raised the issue of sudden travel bans on its local staffer Priya Pillai (who was attempting to visit the UK for advocacy purposes) or international staffers (who was attempting to visit India with proper visas) over the last six months. As for Christine Mehta’s deportation, Amnesty International clearly owes her a public apology

26 June, 2015

“A Boot Stamping On A Human Face –Forever”
By Javeria Younes

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.” Perhaps the author of these words, George Orwell, could not have expected his prophesy would materialize quite as it has today. Torture has become a hard-hitting reality of our time; it is no longer an issue of prisonersof war or alien combatants. It has now seeped into the very core of our society and the criminal justice system

Healing Our Wounds: Restorative Justice Is Needed For Albert Woodfox,
The Black Panther Party & The Nation --
An Interview With Law Professor Angela A. Allen-Bell

By Angola 3 News

On Monday, June 8, 2015, US District Court Judge James Brady ruled that the Angola 3's Albert Woodfox be both immediately released and barred from a retrial. The next day, at the request of the Louisiana Attorney General, the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay of release set to expire on Friday, June 12. On Friday, June 12, the Court responded by scheduling oral arguments for late August and extending the stay of release at least until the time that the Court issues its ruling later in the Fall

16 May , 2015

#FreeAtena: Facing Prison For Drawing Cartoons In Iran
By Amnesty International UK

Atena Farghadani is a prisoner of conscience, detained and facing years in prison for her peaceful activism. 28-year-old Atena will be tried on Tuesday of charges including ‘spreading propaganda against the system’ and ‘insulting members of parliament through paintings’. Ask Iran’s leaders to release her immediately

13May , 2015

Ananta Bijoy Dash's Murder: Swedish PEN Demands
A Response From The Swedish Embassy In Dhaka

By Svenska PEN

Swedish PEN demands a response from the Swedish Embassy in Dhaka following Tuesday's murder of the author and blogger Ananta Bijoy Dash

Citizenship For Bangladeshi Hindus: Some Concerns
By Parvin Sultana

Where a large number of refugees continue to face hardships on a day to day basis in India, the government of the day seems more interested in scoring brownie points by differentiating between refugees on the basis of religion. While the problem of Hindu immigrants is not limited to one particular state, the focus this time seems to be on Assam which is going to polls soon and where immigration continues to be a crucial issue. The UPA was careful to go slow on this issue since it involved the question of granting rights on the basis of religion but the NDA seems keen to take up this issue. If citizenship is to be extended on humanitarian grounds to persecuted communities, it cannot be denied to Rohingiyas, Chakmas, Tibetans etc. India being a secular country cannot be assumed to be a natural homeland of a particular religion. However the present government’s act of limiting the benefit of citizenship to one particular community, point to the sinister designs of the rightwing NDA government which will lead to further communal polarization and hostility

Not All Is Well With Urban Mothers In India
By Jayanthi A Pushkaran

As the hype of Mother’s Day settles down, its time to deal with reality: from the battered slums to chic offices, it is not an easy job being a mother in urban India. According to a global ranking of the best and worst places to be a mom, India held 140th place out of 179 countries in 2015. In Save the Children’s 2015 report titled “State of the World’s Mothers” India slips in motherhood index putting it behind Zimbabwe, Iraq and Bangladesh

Rights Organisations Codemn Conviction Of Chhatradhar Mahato
And Five Others By Midnapore District Court

Life-sentences were awarded to Chhatradhar Mahato, Sukhsanti Baske, Shambhu Soren,Sagun Murmu, Raja Sarkhel and Prasun Chatterjee. All six were arrested between September and October 2009 from Lalgarh and Kolkata on charges of being Maoists and for backing a Maoist front organization, People’s Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) and charged under sections of the UAPA, Arms Act, Explosives Substances Act and IPC

10 May , 2015

Latifah Anum Siregar Wins 2015 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights
The May 18 Memorial Foundation

The 2015 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights Committee has chosen Latifah Anum Siregar, a human-rights lawyer, as the recipient of the prize, for her peace movement in the conflict region of West Papua. The Committee also selected Sombath Somphone, the founder of Participatory Development Training Center, as the recipient of the 2015 Gwangju Prize fo Human Rights’ special prize

Chittoor Encounter Killings: Fact Finding Report
By People’s Watch

A team of human rights activists from People’s Watch (comprising of Ms. Palaniammal, Adv, Aseervatham and Mr. Senthil Raja accompanied by members of the Citizens for Human Rights Movement (CHRM) from Vellore, Thiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri and Namakkal Districts) immediately set out on 7th April itself, to conduct a preliminary fact finding into the incident. The Governments and concerned officials of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu were duly intimated about the same. During the fact finding mission, the People’s Watch team visited the scene of the alleged encounter, the concerned police stations, hospitals and post-mortem centres as well as the villages that the deceased victims belonged to and met with the family members of the victims. The findings of the fact finding team completely challenges the State’s claim of the alleged cutting down of red sanders tree and attack on policemen and foresters of the anti-smuggling task force

06 May , 2015

Appointment Of Justice Sathasivam Will Compromise
Autonomous Status Of NHRC Says PUCL

By PUCL

Do not appoint Justice Sathasivam as Chairperson of NHRC: PUCL writes to the President of India

05 May , 2015

The Baltimore Uprising And The U.S. Government's Record On Human Rights
By Matt Peppe

Freddie Gray has become a martyr for the suffering he endured throughout his life at the hands of the social, economic, and political system he lived under, rather than just for his suffering at the hands of the six police officers who ended his life. The Baltimore uprising will not end with the verdicts against the six officers. It will only end when the people of Baltimore and cities across the U.S. are able to hold the people who design the policies that deprive them of their fundamental human rights accountable

Stop False Arrest Of Adivasis And Threats
To Rights’ Activists And Lawyers In Chattisgarh

By People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR)

PUDR strongly condemns IG Bastar, SRP Kalluri’s threat of taking severe action against certain NGOs in Chhattisgarh for allegedly aiding and abetting the Maoists under the guise of helping Adivasis. At a recent Press Conference he said that many such organisations were already under surveillance. The IG‘s list of suspicious activities included providing legal assistance to ‘Naxalites’ – a thinly veiled reference to the Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group (JagLAG), a small NGO active in Bastar since 2013, that provides legal aid to Adivasis many of whom are falsely implicated in cases of Naxal activities

29 April , 2015

Roger Waters To Robbie Williams: If You Take Children
And Human Rights Seriously, Please Don't Play Israel

By Roger Waters

One UK superstar to another: “Your decision to play in Tel Aviv gives succor to Netanyahu and his regime, and endorses their deadly racist policies”

Sri Lanka: Deterioration Of The Legal Intellect (5): A Conversation
With The Prime Minister On Periodic Massacres Of Youth Since 1971

By Basil Fernando

Last week, 23 April 2014, the television programme‘Sathyagaraya’ - a Sinhala language programme telecast by the Independent Television Network (ITN) and produced by Upul Shantha Sannasagala - broadcast a long conversation with Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasignhe. Our concern in this article, is about one particular question raised by the producer, Mr Sannasgala and the reply given by the Prime Minister, to the same. Producer Upul Shantha Sannasgala, raised a question, which he said, is of very great importance to him, about the periodic massacres of youth which had taken place, repeatedly, every 10 to 15 years in Sri Lanka, beginning with the suppression of youth in the 1971 JVP uprising. His question was as to whether these cyclical massacres would go on, from time to time causing the sacrifice of lives of a large number of youth in the country?

Yakub Memon: A Question Of Life And Death
By Megha Bahl & Sharmila Purkayastha

PUDR notes with extreme concern the Supreme Court's decision on the 9th of April 2015, to reject Yakub Memon’s petition seeking review of his death sentence. This decision will only add another chapter to the growing instances of injustice perpetrated by the State. In the name of providing relief for those killed in the heinous Bombay blasts of 1993 one finds a punishment based on selective targeting and prejudice

Killings By Police Of 20 Labourers In The Seshachalam Forests :
Human Rights Forum (HRF) Letter To NHRC

By Human Rights Forum

The death of 25 persons on April 7 in Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Telangana (TS) in alleged encounters has led to much disquiet across the nation. However, the police averment that the killings are the result of “firing in self-defence” is in serious doubt

28 April , 2015

Order Judicial Probe Into Andhra, Telangana Killings
By Solidarity Youth Movement

Solidarity Youth Movement demanded a judicial probe into killings in two incidents of fake encounter in Andhra and Telangana. A fact finding team led by Solidarity Youth Movement visited the families and lawyers of the killed

25 April , 2015

Conscience Keeper Of Pakistan Sabeen Mahmud Assassinated In Karachi
By Shamsul Islam

The killing by the assassins at Karachi of a democrat, liberal and secular activist Sabeen Mahmud, a dear friend, is a great loss to the fraternity which is fighting state terrorism, totalitarianism and religious bigotry in the Indian sub-continent. Sabeen, a prominent Pakistani social and human rights activist was shot while she was returning home with her mother after hosting an event on Balochistan’s "disappeared people"

24 April , 2015

Bangladesh: 2 Years After Rana Plaza, Workers Denied Rights
By Human Rights Watch

Garment workers in Bangladesh face poor working conditions and anti-union tactics by employers including assaults on union organizers, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. In the two years since more than 1,100 workers died in the catastrophic collapse of the Rana Plaza factory on April 24, 2013, efforts are underway to make Bangladesh factories safer, but the government and Western retailers can and should do more to enforce international labor standards to protect workers’ rights, including their right to form unions and advocate for better conditions

23 April , 2015

Fact Finding Report On Seshachalam Killings Of 20 Labourers
Points To Abduction, Torture And Summary Execution

By People’s Watch

The victims were initially abducted by Police officials, and then tortured and murdered while in custody, after which their bodies were most probably placed at the scene of offence to give the appearance of an encounter conducted in self-defence. Ilangovan’s statement deposed before our fact finding team and the Hon’ble Commission confirms the venue of torture and execution to be the compound shared by the DFO and DIG of the AP Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling STF (APRS-STF). It has to be noted that the DIG Dr. M. Kanta Rao has his office cum residence provided in the same compound, as admitted by him to the team. Read the interim report here

22 April , 2015

India Commits Suicide In New Delhi
By Samar

Gajendra Singh, a farmer from Rajasthan, hanged himself from a tree during an Aam Aadmi Party rally at Jantar Mantar in the heart of New Delhi. Farmers are committing suicide all around the country. India where 70 % of its population are small time farmers who are desperately trying to keep their to heads up the flooding waters of debt and crop loss are dying like flies around a lighted lamp. Now, India's farmer's suicide epidemic has come to the nation's capital. Now nobody can deny it. Now nobody can ignore it. This is a nation's death

Modi Sarkar Is Complicit In Gajendra Singh's Suicide
By Shehzad Poonawalla

The farmer, Ganjender Singh from Dausa, Rajasthan, who hanged himself at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar, where the Aam Admi Party was holding a rally, ironically to protest against the BJP's land acquisition bill, in full view of the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Dy.CM Manish Sisodia, only reflects the insensitivity of the state towards the farming population of this country. His unfortunate death is no less than a state complicit murder

19 April , 2015

Fact Finding Report On The Assassination Of
Five Muslim Under Trial Prisoners At Aler Town Of Telangana State Of India

By Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee

A fact finding team of Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee comprising Lateef Mohammed Khan, Adv. D. Suresh Kumar, Ashala Srinivas, Kaneez Fathima, Adv. Mandakini, Adv. Greeshma, Adv. Md. Ismail Khan and Charan K.S conducted fact finding from 12th to 14th April 2015 and met the family members of the deceased, visited place of incident, met the police authorities and local people of Aler and surrounding areas as well as journalists who had covered the incident. The team members recorded the statements of all the people to find out the facts as to what actually happened in the Aler police station limits where five under trial prisoners were shot dead by the police personnel of escort party of central prison of wrangle district of Telangana a newly formed state of India

17 April , 2015

World Bank Business Projects Displaced 3.4 Million People
By Countercurrents.org

At least 3.4 million people have been physically or economically displaced by World Bank-backed projects between 2004 and 2013, estimates an investigative report. The true figure is likely higher, because the bank often fails to count or undercounts the number of people affected by its projects

17 April , 2015

G.N. Saibaba On Hunger Strike : The Biggest "Little Man" In The Country Today

Dr, G N Saibaba, Delhi University Professor, who has been in incarceration since 9th May, 2014 has commenced an indefinite hunger strike from 11-04-2015 demanding proper medical treatment and food, both of which are being denied to him by the authorities of the Nagpur Central Prison

CCTV Cameras In Women's Cells: Angela Sontakke Hunger Strike In Byculla Jail
By Committee for the Protection of Democratic Rights

The installation of CCTV cameras within the women’s barracks in jails amounts to violation of the right to privacy and dignity which is a fundamental right guaranteed under the Constitution. It is important to note that the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that merely because a person is imprisoned, he does not lose all his fundamental rights. It is also most alarming that when a prisoner protests the violation of fundamental rights, she is isolated and threatened with action for obstructing officials from performing their duties!

Death Of An Aged Pensioner In Manipur Raises Many Questions
By John Gaingamlung Gangmei

Whom should we blame for the death of senior citizen (aged woman pensioner) in Manipur? Who is accountable for the unpleasant incident?

16 April , 2015

Paying A Libel Suit To The Israel News Paper
By Mordechai Vanunu

Support Vanunu's Indiegogo Fund Raising Campaign

Ahwazi Uprising: Between Escalation And Repression
By Ahwazna Website

Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of the glorious Intifada 15 April of 2005 that was a turning point in the history of the struggle of the Arab people of Ahwaz. Therefore, it is an opportunity to shed light on the issue of Ahwaz and objectives of the unwavering struggle of its people, and also to expose the Iranian gruesome policies exercised on Ahwazis which have taken its toll where arbitrary arrest of Ahwazi activists, death penalty, denial of employment, stealing the water of rivers and pumping it to Persian regions, building settlements for housing Persian settlers, dehydrating and contaminating wetlands and marshes for prospecting oil are rife

15 April , 2015

Why Sesachalam Killings Is A Fake Encounter
By Ajmal Khan

After the third day Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations team which included this writer visited the place from where the bodies were found, they had also spoke to the families of victims and different government officials who were concerned. The team made very remarkable observations like the part of the forest where the encounter took place had no red sanders. There are no red sander trees within many kilometers of the site. Only twenty dead bodies were recovered (along with a few logs). Which begs the question, what happened to the rest? Where are the injured? Where are the arrestees? What happened to the many logs that they were supposed to have been carrying?. Blood stains are only found on the spots where the bodies were lying. There are no random blood marks on the ground, as one would expect in a random firing. There are no bullet marks anywhere on the encounter sites. No bullet holes on trees, the clay mounds or on the ground. In the 'random' firing every single bullet seems to have found it's mark - the upper body of the victims. (In fact, media reports say, quoting both the witnesses who saw the bodies and the doctor who conducted the autopsy, that the bullet injuries are primarily on the upper body and the shots have been fired at close range.)

Sri Lanka: Deterioration Of The Legal Intellect: IV
By Basil Fernando

A determination issued by the United Nation’s Human Rights Committee on 1stApril 2015, reveals extraordinary failures on the part of Sri Lankan State agencies – the police, the forensic pathologist, the Attorney General, and the Supreme Court – regarding a custodial death that took place at the Moragahahena Police Station on 26th July 2003

13 April , 2015

Chittoor Encounter: Testimonies By Three Survivors Point To
Cold Blooded Murder By Police Forces

By Anhad

Statements of three survivors recorded at the National Human Rights Commission point to cold blooded murder by police forces

Rulers’ Inefficiency And Brutality End 20 Labourers Lives
By T. Venkateshwarlu

Ultimately rulers and police found the best way to prevent red sandalwood smuggling by killing 20 labourers. It will never eradicate the smuggling but it created unimaginable tragedy to the poor families for lifelong

 

12 April , 2015

Andhra Pradesh Forest Department Files FIR Against Human Rights Avitists
Investigating Encounter Killing Of 20 Wood Cutters

By Dr. V. Suresh

PUCL strongly condemns the registration of a FIR by the AP Forest Department against a team of human rights activists drawn from national level human rights organisations which visited , on 11.4.2015, the site of the encounter in Chandragiri Mandal in Chittoor district, AP in which the police shot dead 20 wood cutters. The Fact Finding Team included human rights activists from Civil Liberties Committee - AP, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR), Human Rights Forum (HRF), CPDR and other organisations

Freedom For Dr. Mohammed al-Roken
By Ludwig Watzal

The situation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is almost as bad as in Saudi Arabia. The glittering facade in Dubai pretends normality and Westernization. The human rights lawyer Dr. Mohammed al Roken is a victim of this glamorous image. In reality, the UAE is a repressive regime like all the regimes on the Arab Peninsula

09 April , 2015

Andhra Pradesh 'Encounter' Killings Point To Cold Blooded Murder
By Countercurrents.org

Fresh evidences emerging about the twin encounter killings in Andhra Pradesh in which 25 people lost their lives point to a pre-meditated cold blooded murder by the police force

08 April , 2015

Two Encounters And A Democracy
By Samar

The world’s largest democracy witnessed its police force killing 25 of its citizens in two encounters in Andhra Pradesh. “Encounters”, for the uninitiated, are a euphemism for killing unarmed civilians in staged gun battles. The police version of both the alleged encounters is such that it could be laughed-off had they not been about the deaths of civilians

Condemn Cold-Blooded Murder Of Five Under-Trial Prisoners By Telengana Police
By People's Union For Democratic Rights

PUDR strongly condemns the murder of the 5 under-trial prisoners and demands immediate arrest and suspension of all police personnel who were present in the van. PUDR demands that the Telengana police chief take responsibility for these murders and explain how they have passed them off as ‘retaliatory’ killings. PUDR also wishes to point out to the Home Minister that when custodians of law turn into licensed killers, then they pose a far greater challenge to the country than those who can be banned under draconian legislations and easily killed inside police vans

“National Register Of Citizens” Updation And Recent Political Development In Assam
By Abdul Kalam Azad

On 21st July, 2010 one of my close family relative Mydul Mullah (25) was one among the thousands of marginalized Muslims of Barpeta district who were demonstrating in front of Deputy Commissioner’s office at district headquarter demanding an error-free fresh NRC (National Register of Citizens). Eventually, police brutally cracked down on the picketers and fired upon them for the ‘crime’ of exercising their democratic right to peacefully protest. After the police firing Mydul Mullah along with his three comrades Khandakar Matleb (20), Siraj Ali (27) and Majam Ali (55) succumbed to the bullet injuries. The Tarun Gogoi led Assam government was forced to suspend the faulty NRC pilot project due to unprecedented public outrage

05 April , 2015

Continued Incarceration Of Political Prisoners in Kashmir Vs. Release Of Political Prisoners In India After Lifting Of Internal Emergency: A Study in Contrast
By Dr. Paramjit Singh Sahni & Shobha Aggarwal

It is learnt that a number of political prisoners of the Quit Kashmir Movement as also several hundred arrested during the earlier phases of struggle are languishing in jails in Kashmir and elsewhere. If people charged under the Baroda Dynamite Case can have cases withdrawn and released from jails, there is no reason why political activists in Kashmir have to face continued incarceration in jails. There is a very real possibility that false criminal cases under draconian laws may have been filed even against those involved in the Quit Kashmir movement. In the interest of justice and equity each one of those involved in that movement should be released forthwith

02 April , 2015

Sri Lanka : Deterioration Of The Legal Intellect: Part II
By Basil Fernando

Father, Mother, And Son Killed In retaliation for filing a fundamental rights petition against five police officers

Wisconsin Grandmother Jailed For Opposing Drone Murders
By David Swanson

Joy First reports from Mauston, Wisc., that Bonnie Block, a Madison grandmother and long-time peace activist, was found guilty of trespassing in a jury trial in the Juneau County Courthouse on Wednesday, April 1, 2015, and sent to jail

01 April , 2015

And Then They Came For Oyasiqur Rahman Babu !
By Subhash Gatade

Md Oyasiqur Rahman Babu , aged 27 years is dead. A travel agency executive by profession and a secular blogger by passion he was killed by radical Islamists in Tejgaon, Dhaka when he was going to office in Motijheel. The three assailants - who did not personally know each other - met just for planning the murder and then executed it with military precision

30 March, 2015

Yemen: Saudi-Led Airstrikes Take Civilian Toll
By Human Rights Watch

The Saudi Arabia-led coalition of Arab countries that conducted airstrikes in Yemen on March 26 and 27, 2015, killed at least 11 and possibly as many as 34 civilians during the first day of bombings in Sanaa, the capital, Human Rights Watch said today. The 11 dead included 2 children and 2 women. Saudi and other warplanes also carried out strikes on apparent targets in the cities of Saada, Hodaida, Taiz, and Aden

The 12th Anniversary Of Aafia Siddiqui's Abduction:
What Happened To Aafia Siddiqui And Where Is She Now?

By Judy Bello

A Pakistani Woman named Aafia Siddiqui was abducted from a taxi in Karachi, Pakistan along with her 3 children 12 years ago on March 30, 2003. At the time she was vulnerable, recently divorced from an abusive husband; living with her mother; her father had just died of a heart attack. The youngest child was an infant. Following her abduction, Aafia Siddiqui and her children disappeared from view for 5 years. She spent those years in US Black Site prisons in Afghanistan and Pakistan. One can only imagine the torment she suffered there, in a system created to enable the torture and abuse of terrorism suspects. She was a woman alone. They took her children, and threatened them when personal torture was not enough to gain her acquiescence

29 March, 2015

Re-Probe Hashimpura Killing Case
By Syed Ali Mujtaba

It’s bolt on India’s democracy that the murders of Hashimpura are let out for want of evidence. There is hardly any hue and cry, local and international pressure being built for re-probe. The evidences are abundant, it needs to pieced together and bring it for the judicial scrutiny. Re-probe of Hashimpura carnage alone can instill confidence among the minority community in the country

28 March, 2015

Brutal Lathi Charge On Workers Outside Delhi Secretariat
By Abhinav Sinha

Complete account of the brutal lathi charge on workers outside Delhi Secretariat on the orders of Kejriwal Government on March 25, 2015

“Bapu Surat Singh: Punjab’s Irom Sharmila”
By PUCL

Human Rights Violations by the Punjab Government and Punjab Police regarding the Surat Singh Khalsa fast unto death

24 March, 2015

Wait For Justice To Victims Of Hashimpura Has Become Much Longer
By Subash Gatade

After around 28 years of the gruesome massacre allegedly by the personnel of the much feared PAC ( Provincial Armed Constabulary) for its biased approach , the Delhi court acquitted all 16 accused on ‘benefit of doubt due to insufficient evidence, particularly on the identification of the accused’. There have been very few massacres in post-independent India which have shaken the civil society to the core and have propelled it to come forward and raise its voice. And the Hashimpura killings happen to be one such episode

23 March, 2015

For Hamza: Arms Sanctions Against Israel’s Everyday Terrorism
By Vacy Vlazna

Meet little Hamza Mus'ab Almadani of Khan Younis, Gaza. Look carefully, look tenderly, don’t turn away. Please don’t turn away as all the nations of the world have, for decades, turned away from Palestine. Hamza is Palestine. Look carefully at Israel’s savage violation to his once perfect little body when on the 25th July 2014, Israel’s soldiers loaded and fired pale blue artillery shells that discharged white incendiary rain on Gaza in hundreds of phosphorous-impregnated felt wedges as Hamza and his family slept. Imagine the agony Hamza suffered from the moment the white phosphorous struck and burrowed through his soft three year old skin. Phosphorous burns are only contained by blocking off oxygen but the extreme pain and, as you can see, the horrific tissue damage endures

Declaring Dr. Chia Thye Poh As A Singaporean Hero Is A Better Way
To Commemorate The Death Of Lee Kuan Yew

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

Many, including President Barack Obama, have been paying glowing tributes to Lee Kuan Yew since the announcement of his death this morning, 23rd March 2015. However, recalling what Lee Kuan Yew did to Dr. Chia Thye Poh and many other persons who aspired for multi-party democracy and respect for the freedom of expression in Singapore is a better way to remember Lee Kuan Yew. It is the least that can be done to fight back against the terrible legacy he has bequeathed

What Happened In Hashimpura 28 Years Ago?
By Vibhuti Narain Rai

There are some experiences that stick with you throughout your life. They always stay with you like a nightmare and sometimes are like debts on your shoulders. The experience at Hashimpura Massacre was such an experience for me, says Vibhuti Narayan Rai, then Superintendent of Police, Ghaziabad, UP. On 22 May 1987, in Hashimpura, a locality in the Meerut City, 42 innocent Muslims were killed in cold blood by the personnel of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC)

Police Firing On Women On International Women’s Day In Odisha
By Ganatantrik Adhikar Surakhya Sangathan

On 8th March 2015, when the world was observing International Women’s Day, Odisha police fired upon women agitators at Namatara village of Rajakanika block of Kendrapada district and injured 16 villagers, mostly women. Out of those injured people, 9 villagers (five women, two girl children and 2 men) got admitted in Cuttak Medical College because of serious bullet injury. Now the police have already arrested 6 people for attacking the police and have filed cases against 60 people also. Namatara village having 200 houses are mostly of dalit communities

22 March, 2015

Babloo Loitongbam: Three Decades Of Building Human Rights Solidarity
An Interview With Babloo Loitongbam By Abhay Kumar

An Interview With Babloo Loitongbam, pre-eminent human rights activist, who for the past three decades is striving hard to bring justice for those in North East India whose rights are being violated on a daily basis especially under the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)

Violent Clashes Between Iranian Forces And Ahwazi Civilians: One Fan Shot Dead 
By Rahim Hamid

On Tuesday 17th March, Violent clashes erupted between Iranian security forces and Ahwazi Arab civilians after the end of the football match between Foulad Al-Ahwaz FC and Al-Hilal Saudi FC. One young fan has allegedly been shot dead by the Iranian anti-riot forces who used live ammunition targeting Ahwazi fans

Condemn Acquittal Of 16 PAC Personnel Accused In The Hashimpura Massacre
By People’s Union for Democratic Rights

On 22 May 1987, PAC personnel of UP reached Hashimpura, Meerut, took away about 50 Muslim men from a crowd outside a mosque, shot dead at least 42 of the men, and threw their bodies into a canal. On 21 March 2015, a Delhi Sessions Court accepted that the PAC personnel had committed these murders, but acquitted the policemen charged on account of insufficient evidence. Twenty eight years after the brutal massacre of Muslims by state forces, the guilty in uniform have not been identified and are roaming free

 

21 March, 2015

Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy on climate change voiced support for the fossil fuel divestment movement at an event in London on Friday. Mary Robinson, leading climate justice campaigner and former president of Ireland, said it was “very interesting” to see the movement grow in impact. For any fund, “it is almost a due diligence requirement” to consider ending investment in dirty energy companies, she said

The Dimapur Lynch Mob And Violence Of Hurt Sentiments
By People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism

While community politics creates unbridgeable walls between citizens, the fluidity of opportunities under modernity generates another world outside communities. The man killed by the Naga mob in Dimapur was actually married to a Naga woman. Their girl child, half Naga-half Cachharree Muslim, and hence neither Naga, nor Cachharee Muslim, faces an uncertain future. It depends crucially on the future of democracy in the country whether she spends her life in trauma in the barrenness of no-man’s land between communities, or she grows up to live full life of a citizen without fear, hatred and suspicion

19 March, 2015

Ahwazis Call The Amnesty International To Urge Iran To Stop Persecution
By Amir Saedi

Ahwazi Community in the UK demonstrated in front of the Amnesty International on Tuesday 17 March 2015 against the persecution of the Arabs by the Iranian regime. Following the protest a group of Ahwazi activists met with Mrs Hassiba Hadh Sahraoui, the Deputy Director of Middle East and North Africa Programme

Condemn The Gang-Rape In Nadia And Continuing Attacks On Christians
By People's Union for Democratic Rights

PUDR expresses outrage at the gang-rape of a 71 year old nun by a gang of “dacoits” inside a convent in Gangnapur village, Nadia district, West Bengal on 14th March 2015. The men reportedly raided and desecrated the convent before taking away 12 lakhs.Clearly, the motive was not merely to rob and decamp but to punish the school and the community through this horrendous gang-rape. In this connection, PUDR wishes to draw attention to the disturbing trend of attacks on Christians, including their institutions and places of worship, in recent times

18 March, 2015

Doms In Varanasi Seek Justice Through Honorable Rehabilitation
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Domraj often come in mythologies and they continue to do the task of burning dead bodies at the Ghats and cleaning human excreta in the city. Most of the land meant for them is already occupied and big ghats have erupted on the bank. Nothing has changed for them. In fact, they reflect the criminal civilization which kept them subjugated for thousands of years and the independence that we got in 1947 has no meaning for them as the community remains untouchables among untouchables absolutely ostracized and thoroughly disenfranchised in the holy city

Flagrant Violations Of Ahwazi Prisoners And Fabrication Of Charges
As Justifications For Their Incarceration

By Rahim Hamid

Two distinguished Ahwazi former prisoners named “Ramadan Nasseri” and “Mohammed Hattab Zaheri Sari” in their interviews with human rights organizations and Arab Media agencies revealed flagrant human rights violations that the Iranian occupying government has exercised against Ahwazi Arab prisoners in Al-Ahwaz

16 March, 2015

Self-Immolation Of An Ahwazi Street Vendor In Protest
Against The Confiscation Of His Grocer’s Stall

By Rahim Hamid

An Ahwazi Arab street vendor by the name of Younes Asakere from Mohammareh city has set himself on fire in protest against the action of the Occupying municipal officials who confiscated his small grocer’s stall

15 March, 2015

Afzal Guru’s Mortal Remains Must Reach His Family
By Dr. Paramjit Singh Sahni & Shobha Aggarwal

In all situations the body of the deceased must reach the family. This alone would satisfy and soothe the collective conscience of the society

14 March, 2015

Fishermen, Are They Criminals? An Open Letter To Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka And India
By Ravi Nitesh

I demand Sri Lankan PM to express his apology over the statement to shoot Indian fishermen because it was against humanitarian approach, against UN sea laws and most importantly against the unity of fishermen. He must apologise that he see fishermen not as ‘criminals’. He must also apologise to people of Sri Lanka that he doesn’t believe what he said is a common belief of Sri Lanka’s people and fishermen. We know that even fishermen of Sri Lanka will never support his statement

13 March, 2015

Unite! Let's Make Sure That Kandhamals Are Not Repeated
By Medha Patkar

My friends, let me stop my speech by saying that it is time that the displaced people and the marginalized people come together as a strong force, so that these forms of injustice can be effectively dealt with in a united manner

Government Clampdown On Dalit, Adivasi Protesters;
Dalit Woman Activists Dragged Inside Police Station

By National Dalit Movement for Justice

In a shocking incident, over 30 Dalit and Adivasi students and activists were arrested this afternoon from Shastri Bhavan in New Delhi when they demanded to meet the Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Smriti Irani, over unfair budgetary allocations in education of Dalit and Adivasi students. At the time of the arrest, the delegation, including N Paul Diwakar, well-known Dalit activist and general secretary of National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), were about to submit a Memorandum of Demands to the Minister asking for reallocation of funds. The activists were taken to Parliament Police station where another Dalit activist Beena Pallical was forcefully dragged taken inside the police station

12 March, 2015

Climate Change Threatens Human Rights, Says Kiribati President
By Sebastien Duyck

Over the past two months, Geneva offered two opportunities for governments to deepen their understanding of the interplay between human rights and climate action. The coming months will now be critical to determine whether, through the UN climate body and the Human Rights Council, states are willing to commit to take steps towards ensuring that climate policies address climate change in a way that promotes human rights at the same time

11 March, 2015

Homan Square Police Site And The Mainstream Media's Lack of Concern:
Chicago Media Exposed For Its Deceitfulness

By Kim Scipes

What we have is an extensive set of lies of omission: the Tribune and Sun-Times have not investigated the story, obviously hoping it would go away. Because of their inaction, it appears that there were hopes that it would not become an issue in the mayoral run-off. The mainstream media “dam” seems to be giving away, though, as activists and the alternative media in Chicago, including Substancenews.net, keep this issue alive. Whether it gets more fully into the mayoral campaign or not, police maleficence in Chicago—as well as across the United States—is going to continue to be challenged

Violence Against Women: Why We Keep Getting It Wrong
By Robert J. Burrowes

With the passing of another International Women's Day, during which much attention around the world has again been focused on tackling violence against women, I would like to explain why none of the initiatives currently being proposed will achieve anything unless we acknowledge, and act on, the cause of this violence

Deprecate Lynching Of A Muslim Youth At Dimapur Of Nagaland
By Lateef Mohammed Khan

It is Crime against Humanity based upon political motivation – Judiciary, State and Central Government are culpable

10 March, 2015

Possibility Of Escape 
By Kathy Kelly

I'm here among women, some of whom, I've been told, are supposed to be "hardened criminals." Fellow activists incarcerated in men's prisons likewise concur that the system is futile, merciless and wrongheaded. Our jailers, I'm convinced, can see this. Men like Governor Rauner, it seems, can see it, or his advisers can. Where are the inflexible ones keeping women like Marlo isolated from and lost to the world, trembling for their future for the next five years? I would like to make an appeal to you, and to myself two months from now when I've left here and once more rejoined the polite society of these women's "inflexible jailers." I choose to believe that we can be moved and these women can escape. I am writing this, as many have written and will write, to see if we're easier to move than iron and stone

Fact Finding Report On Communal Violence in Bharuch District, Gujarat
By PUCL

Today PUCL, Gujarat Submitted a fact finding Report to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), National Commission for Minorities, Chief Minister and Minister of Home and Revenue (Gujarat), Director General of Police (Gujarat) demanding urgent action in cases of Violation of Right to Life and Liberties, Right to livelihood of the affected people in the villages of Hansot Block, District Bharuch, Gujarat due to communal violence and ineffective/biased state action from December 2014 onwards

East Turkestan’s Uyghurs: The Wrong Minority, With The Wrong Faith,
In The Wrong Place, At The Wrong Time

By Tim Robertson

Far from the east coast metropolises of Beijing and Shanghai, in the western region of Xinjiang (referred to as East Turkestan by Uyghurs), the Muslim Uyghur minority has long been struggling under the repressive rule of the Communist Party (CCP). The Uyghurs – who speak a Turkic language and have much more culturally in common with their Central Asian neighbours – want independence from China. For the CCP, who see itself as the guardian of the civilisation-state, this kind of ‘separatism’ is unacceptable: It poses an existential threat to China because its borders pre-date the modern nation-state system and any challenge to that could precipitate other territorial disputes that could make her like any other country – that’s to say, arbitrary lines on a map

Forced Sterilization, Exclusion, Persecution, Cultural Genocide: The Situation Of Ahwazi Women
By Al-Sharq Newspaper

An Interview with Mona Oudeh an Ahwazi Arab activist

Federal Study: US Government Killing Apprximately 1,000 Of Its Own People Per Year
By Robert Barsocchini

The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that, on average, US police piled up the bodies of 928 US citizens per year between 2003-2009 and 2011.

Goodbye Secularism! Enter Theocracy!!
By Subhash Gatade

Understanding the yet unfolding ‘Dietary Fascism'

What Else Then In Nirbhaya Film Except Mukesh Singh?
By Deba Ranjan

This film, ‘India’s Daughter’, except for Mukesh Singh has nothing. Only Nirbhaya’s mother is sole person who is countering the criminal and the lawyers. The criminals are in jail and the lawyer, specifically Mohan Sharma, is sitting in chair, very calmly, with the uniform, inside his own chamber, is spreading nothing but ‘hatred’ towards Nirbhaya! As a human being I can’t accept this

Nation’s Honour, ‘IBIs’ And The Dimapur Lynching
By Bonojit Hussain

While there is little doubt that the mob lynching would not have been possible without complicity of the police force at various levels, Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang in a kneejerk reaction has blamed social media users for the flare-up and the subsequent lynching. It would do well to both CM TR Zeliang and Naga society at large if he musters the courage to condemn and initiate action against the leaders of those civil society organizations that made libelous and false statements and calling for mob (in) justice

09 March, 2015

Egyptian Junta Begins Executions Of Islamists
By Alex Lantier

With Saturday’s execution of an Islamist defendant, the first state killing of the hundreds of people sentenced to death in mass show trials following the July 2013 military coup, the US-backed Egyptian junta is stepping up its campaign of police-state terror against the people

08 March, 2015

Mob (in)justice In Dimapur
By Parvin Sultana

Dimapur is regarded as the business capital of Nagaland, a state in the Northeastern region of India. This small town was jolted by a series of horrific incidents that took place on 5th March, 2015. A man accused of raping a college student was murdered by a mob. Videos of the 35 year old Syed Farid Khan being paraded naked and beaten to death became viral. His lifeless blood drenched body was then hanged

Analysing The Dimapur Lynching
By Sazzad Hussain

This modern day lynching was photographed by mobile wielding youth as souvenirs. The entire act was committed in broad day light where the police and the civil administration choose to remain nonchalant. The punch line of the narrative was that the “rapist”, who was also an “illegal Bangladeshi immigrant”, got his punishment in a country where the justice delivery system is very slow

What About India’s Daughters In The Conflict Zones?
By Devika Mittal

Sexual violence in the conflict zones are not an aberration. They are widespread. Yet, they do not evoke the same outrage that this particular incident in a non-conflict zone has received. The Government, the judiciary and even those people who are aware of this reality remain silent. Aren’t these the daughters of India too? Aren’t they women as well? This hypocrisy needs to be addressed. Respect and rights cannot be exclusive or the entitlement of only a particular section of women

Ahwazi Mass Demonstration In Front Of The European Parliament In Brussels
By Rahim Hamid

The Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Al-Ahwaz has organized a mass demonstration, under the title “We will never forget our Ahwazi people” in front of the European Parliament in Brussels, the Belgian Capital. The Demonstration took place on Friday 6th of March to condemn the policies of Iranian occupation and the ongoing anti-human atrocities against the Arab people of Ahwaz

07 March, 2015

A Short Note On ‘India's Daughter' 
By V. Arun Kumar

I recently watched the BCC's documentary ‘India's Daughter' made by LesleeUdwin. The document is strong one exposing the misogynist and male chauvinism mind-set existing in our society. Banning of this documentary is idiotic, but I have certain reservations

06 March, 2015

Amnesty International Demands The Release Of Human Rights Defenders In Kerala
Press Release

“Indian courts have stated on multiple occasions that mere possession of certain literature cannot be considered a crime. The National Human Rights Commission has asked for a report from the Kerala police on the arrests. Authorities must ensure that the two men are protected from torture and other ill-treatment,” said Shemeer Babu, Programmes Director, Amnesty International India

India's Daughter: Dealing With Reality
By Shalu Nigam

The documentary `India's Daughter' made by Leslee Udwin about the rape that shook Delhi in December 2012 raised a lot of debate, outrage and furor in Parliament, in media and in general. The police filed a FIR and the broadcast of this documentary is banned in India. Statements were issued by groups in favour and against such ban. However, what is being overlooked amidst this debate is the reality of women's lives in India. A woman in India faces this patriarchal misogynist attitude every day – at home and at public spaces, through her entire life in different ways. The documentary pointed to this regressive attitude and subjugating culture that needs to be addressed. Prohibiting the documentary is futile as shying away from such questions that pertains to reality of women's live or living in denial that misogyny exists or closing eyes to realities is hardly helpful to bring about social transformation. The need is to strike at the roots and confront the sexist and patriarchal violent culture in a mature manner

Is ‘India’s Daughter’ A Victim Of Corporate Media War ?
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

BBC’s film failed to expose India’s caste impunity, which rapes women at their whims and fancies to assert its supremacy in India’s villages. It is sad that our activists and human rights ‘champion’ did not have time to narrate things when they critique the film, instead the farce of nationalism and technicalities of the matter are being raised and that shows the hollowness of the protests and the human rights movement itself which keep quiet on the violence against Dalit women and make it just a plain gender issue. India will never answer that. BBC documentary failed us in that but nevertheless it is a milestone as it still exposes Indian society and its hypocrisy in dealing with the issue

Muzzling India’s Daughters
By Farzana Versey

Soon after December 16, 2012, India became international news for a rape. Intellectuals and the political class had at the time lapped up the attention, to the extent of participating in the globalisation of Delhi as the rape capital. The shame they felt came with the caveat of their moral superiority. Today, when it comes back full circle to mock them they stand more exposed than what they are exposing. They had called her India’s daughter, and now they object to the title of a documentary using it. India has banned the film

05 March, 2015

Letter To NDTV On The Teleast Of The Documentary “India’s Daughter”
By Concerned Citizens

This communication, we are sending after viewing the documentary film, which ironically, you had proposed to telecast on 8th March 2015, on the occasion of InternationalWomen's Day. We are writing to you to express our serious concerns about some aspects of this film which, as a responsible channel, we fully expect that you will take on board and postpone the broadcast of this film, till all legal processes and proceedings pertaining to the 16 December 2012 case have concluded

"India's Daughter" : A Ban Is Not The Solution
By National Federation Of Indian Women

National Federation Of Indian Women (NFIW) strongly opposes the banning of the documentary India's Daughter. The 'objectionable' portions of the documentary not only expose the mentality of the rapist, they are also a reflection of the mentality and attitude of the Indian patriarchal society towards women

04 March, 2015

Gitmo In Chicago
By Stephen Lendman

On February 24, The Guardian headlined ”The disappeared: Chicago police detain Americans at abuse-laden ‘black site.’ ” It’s an “off-the-books (Homan Square) interrogation compound,” said the Guardian – some miles west from where this writer lives. A “nondescript warehouse (is) the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site.” People are lawlessly arrested, detained, denied access to lawyers up to 24 hours, and tortured during secret interrogations

"Collective Psychopathology" And US Police State Methods
By Jon V Kofas

In February 2015, The Guardian published a couple of new stories about the connection between the Chicago police department “black site” at Homan Square and the Guantanamo prison where terror suspects have been kept as political prisoners without ever been charged. Neither the national media in the US nor the Chicago media organizations, including African-American, have pursued this story. Even after the British paper brought these issues to the attention of the public, the mainstream media in Chicago and across the US are ignoring the revelations, a subject in itself revealing about the role of the US media in a democratic society where human rights and civil rights violations occur

We Are All Mukto-Mona ! The Challenge Of Unreason In South Asia
By Subhash Gatade

Humayun Azad, Salman Tasser, Ahmad Rajib Haider, Dr Dabholkar, Com Pansare and now Avijit Roy. Thanks to religious fervour and growth of extremism of every kind in this part of South Asia, where forces of darkness seem to be on the ascendance, it may just create a feeling that we have reached a dead end as we are losing people one by one who were 'a beacon of hope and light in these dreadful times'. Should we then say that whatever 'little hope we saw in the horizon will it wither away?' We have no other option than to remain eternal optimist with a sincere hope that their 'mettle will be passed onto new generation.'

03 March, 2015

NHRC Issues Notice To Kerala Government On The Arrest Of Human Rights Defenders
Press Release

The National Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognizance of a media report that the Kerala Government was targeting human rights defenders and rights activists by labeling them as 'Maoists sympathizers'. Human rights defenders and advocates Tushar Nirmal Sarathy and Jaison C. Cooper had been arrested under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in Kerala and were in jail since the 30th January, 2015

Occupation: A Short Conversation
By Kashoo Tawseef

Some call it, occupation, others invasion, conquest, or control of a nation or territory by foreigners. Whatever you call it, it doesn't sound comfortable at all. Have you ever felt, or tried to feel how it is like, to be living in occupation. How is it to be occupied? Ask someone who has experienced occupation. I had a chance to sit with a friend of mine, David (name changed) for a cup of tea, which he has lived most of his life under occupation. He answered me some unanswered questions, and explained the real meaning of occupation. Here are some excerpts of our conversation

02 March, 2015

Avijit Roy Assassinated: Avijit Stands For Humanity
By Countercurrents.org

The assassination, latest in a series of attacks on secular writers in Bangladesh in recent years, occurred in the backdrop of on-going political disturbance carried by the opponents of Sheikh Hasina government as her government publicly announced its policy of zero-tolerance to religious extremism, and is strong handedly trying to weed out the religious extremists. There have been a series of similar attacks in recent years blamed on the Islamic militants

The Saudi Hypocrisy
By Mazin Qumsiyeh

The kingdom of "Saudi Arabia" is going to behead a man for "apostacy" (renouncing his belief in Islam and the Quran) while welcoming Egyptian Al-Sisi whose security forces are torturing people to death in Egypt for being supportive of an Islamic political system more moderate than that of that Kingdom!

01 March, 2015

Condemn The Brutal Murder Of Avijit Roy
By People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism

People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism strongly condemns the brutal murder of Mr Avijit Roy, a Bangladeshi secular blogger and author on 26th February in Dhaka. His wife Ms Rafida Anwar Banna has suffered grievous injuries in the attack. Mr Roy was a popular blogger and author who wrote a number of books against religious extremism and the threat to human dignity and democracy from it. He had been on the hit list of Islamic fundamentalists for a number of years

Release 145 Undertrial Maruti Workers On Bail
By People’s Union for Democratic Rights

PUDR welcomes the bail granted by the Supreme Court to Sunil s/o Satpal and Kanwaljeet Singh, two of the Maruti workers on February 23, 2015. Sunil and Kanwaljeet are among the 147 workers who were arrested in the aftermath of the violence on July 18, 2012, in the Manesar plant of Maruti Suzuki in Haryana which led to the death of the factory's HR manager Awaneesh Kumar Deb. However it is hardly a cause for celebration given that the bail was long overdue, and the other 145 workers still continue to languish in jail

A Journey To Niyamgiri, A Celebration Of Life, Activism And Struggle!
By Shobha.R

We are once again reminded of the goondaism that prevails in regions like these, where communities face threats of abuse, intimidation and forced eviction due to mining and other so called development projects; where human right defenders and activists who believe in and abide by the law are made to feel like criminals and where the rich corporates who violate the law, rule the land

From Barpeta To Lucknow: Journey Of Waste-Pickers
By Dr. Roli Misra & Parvin Sultana

Internal migration from Assam to other parts of India for a better livelihood is very common. But the condition of these waste pickers worsen once they move from Barpeta to Lucknow. Poverty, issues of identity circumscribed by larger question of illegal immigration makes it harder for them to work and sustain themselves. What is required is a move from rhetorical politics and a humanitarian take on the issue of these people who are stuck in the lowest rung of social ladder. Only then policies will be successful in true sense and people can break free from stigmas and move ahead

25 February, 2015

Release Human Rights Defenders Thushar And Jaison
By Asian Human Rights Commission

Such a witch-hunt of human rights advocates and activists, under the guise of battling extremism, is unacceptable in a functioning democracy. The AHRC calls upon the government of Kerala to intervene in this case, release Thushar Sarathy and Jaison Cooper unconditionally, and stop the police vendetta against the human rights defenders

24 February, 2015

Maldives Former President Nasheed Must Be Released
By Asian Centre For Human Rights

The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) today called upon the President of Maldives Mr Abdulla Yameen to immediately release former President Mohamed Nasheed, who has been in illegal detention on what can credibly be described as trumped up terrorism charges since 22 February 2015

23 February, 2015

Genocide In Sri Lanka: "It's A Question That Certainly Needs To Be Litigated"
By Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah

There are two related issues currently of critical consequence to Tamils: 1) The deferment of the release of the OISL report (the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka report) initially fixed for March 25, 2015. 2) the question of whether or not it was Genocide and the Dire need for it to be litigated

20 February, 2015

War And The Lightness of Being Adivasi: Security Camps And Villages In Bijapur, Chhattisgarh
By People's Union For Democratic Rights

Between December 26th and 31st 2014, a PUDR fact-finding team visited 9 villages of Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh to ascertain reports of arrests, intimidation and harassment, including sexual abuse by security forces who are stationed there to fight the Maoists. Predominantly Adivasi villages, the residents of Basaguda, Kottaguda, Pusbaka, Lingagiri, Rajpeta, Timmapur, Kottagudem, Korsaguda and Sarkeguda, narrated the daily acts of violence and violations committed by armed personnel residing in security camps

12 February, 2015

Demand Action Against Special Cell Personnel In Liaquat Shah Case
By People's Union For Democratic Rights

The recent chargesheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) absolving former Hizbul Mujahideen militant, Syed Liaquat Shah, of all charges, has yet again exposed the Special Cell of the Delhi Police for planting false evidence and for framing Shah

10 February, 2015

Saying No To Torture: A Gallery of American Heroes 
By Rebecca Gordon

Some of those who rejected torture, like CIA official John Kiriakou and an as-yet-unnamed Navy nurse, directly refused to practice it. Some risked reputations and careers to let the people of this country know what their government was doing. Sometimes an entire agency, like the FBI, refused to be involved in torture. I'd like to introduce you to six of these heroes

08 February, 2015

Genocide In Kashmir: India’s Shame
By Andre Vltchek

Welcome to Kashmir! It is deep winter. The mountains are covered with snow and the naked trees above the lakes at sunset, look melancholic and magnificent, precisely like a completed Chinese brush painting. Welcome to a nation overrun by the 700,000-strong security forces of the occupying power – India. Welcome to the continuous presence of barbed wire, of military columns, and ‘security checks’. Welcome to a brutality unimaginable almost anywhere else on earth!

03 February, 2015

The West Pakistani Refugees
By Masood Ali Mir

A big portion of these refugees in 1947 migrated to the Jammu region of the Jammu and Kashmir state from the Western Pakistan. As per unofficial records the number of these refugees is over 17 lakh that is why this region ( Jammu) has of late earned the distinction of being called as Refugee Capital of Asia. Although these refugees have been give equal status and full citizenship rights in the rest of India by the Indian constitution but in Jammu and Kashmir these refugees could not get the same status and rights given the complex and conflict nature of Jammu and Kashmir within the Indian Union. The Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir do not recognize them and their descendants as ‘state subjects’ or permanent residents of the state till date .These Refugees cannot buy and own properties in the state as per the Article 370. The eligible voters among them figure in the voter list for Lokh Sabha but for the state of Jammu & Kashmir they are not voters. They cannot vote or contest Panchayat and state assembly elections

02 February, 2015

Arundhati Roy And Others Demand Release Of Prominent Social Activists Arrested In Kerala
By Concerned Citizens

Arundhati Roy and several other intellectuals and social activists and common citizens from around the world demand the release of Jaison Cooper, a well-known social activist and blogger who actively engaged in a variety of people’s struggles in Kerala and Thushar Nirmal Sarathy, a civil rights activist in the forefront of people’s struggles, arrested under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act

30 January, 2015

Release Jaison Cooper And Thushar Sarathy
By Meena Kandasamy

We, the undersigned, place the following demands before the Chief Minister of Kerala and call upon him to: 1. Release the activists Jaison Cooper and Thushar Sarathy unconditionally 2. Punish the police officers responsible for framing and defaming people’s activists 3. Prevent the torture and intimidation of Jaison Cooper and Thushar Sarathy as long as they remain in police custody and to protect their right to silence and dignity

28 January, 2015

Justice Delayed, And Denied Yet Again
By People's Union for Democratic Rights

PUDR urges Supreme Court to suo moto intervene in the Shankarbigha and other massacres

15 January, 2015

56 Days Hungry: Activist Stays Steadfast For Human Rights
By Gurmeet Kaur

A human rights activist in North India just completed day 56 of his hunger strike in protest against the government’s mistreatment and illegal detention of political prisoners. His cause and the duration of his strike reminds one of Bobby Sands, the first of ten Irish Hunger Strikers to die in 1981. The ten protested against the British government on revocation of the prisoner-of-war like category for paramilitary prisoners. They survived without food for 46 to 73 days

31 December, 2015

Twenty-Two Stitches For Drinking Water
By Gladson Dungdung

Nagendra Singh is a Chero Adivasi. There were 22 stitches on his head. These stitches were the price he had to pay for using the hand pump at a police checkpoint near the famous Betla sanctuary. Can a person be punished so severely in a free country for consuming some water from a public hand pump?

30 December, 2014

Can Compensation Replace Justice?
By People's Union For Democratic Rights

On 18th December 2014, the Supreme Court directed the Central Government to pay Rs. 10 lakh as compensation to the family of Thangjam Chanu Manorama Devi. Manorama Devi was picked up on the night of 11th July, 2004 from her home in Imphal by soldiers of the Assam Rifles on charges of being a member of the banned Peoples Liberation Army. She was tortured, raped and subsequently killed in their custody

29 December, 2014

Harvest Of Innocent Blood: The Democracy Deficit In Bodoland, Assam
By New Socialist Initiative (NSI)

The centre and the state governments have started an NIA enquiry of the massacre. To be credible, this enquiry should be impartial and find out the nexus between the armed mercenary groups like NDFB-S and the ruling dispensations and power groups who utilize the “services” of such groups. By simply giving a blanket order to flush out and eliminate the “miscreants”, the state cannot resolve the complex situation in Assam and the Northeast in general. It is actually a license for harassment, and violence on the ordinary people

26 December, 2014

Who Is Responsible For Assam Massacre?
By Gladson Dungdung

In the recent Assam violence unleashed by the extremist outfit the ‘National Democratic Front of Bodoland’ (Songbijit), where 81 people mostly the Adivasis were brutally killed, which also includes the killing of 3 innocent people by our brave soldiers, using their mighty power of ‘shoot at sight order’ while villagers were protesting against the violence. Besides, 15,000 people were made homeless and forced to live in the relief camps. Since, inception of the state called ‘India’ has been buying the dead bodies so Rs 500,000 was paid for each dead body this time too. Is it not a shameful incident for the largest democracy on the Earth? How long the state would count the dead bodies and buy them?

09 September, 2012

It is Not Enough To "Have" Human Rights,
It Is Essential To Know Them And
Own Them As a Way of Life

By Shulamith Koenig

Our mantra describes human rights as the banks of the river where life flows freely. And when the floods come people who know and own human rights strengthen the bank to revert the floods and maintain freedom. Knowledge is power! .Learning about human rights as a way of life moves power to human rights

27 January, 2012

Misuse Of Intelligence: Right To Dissent
By S.G.Vombatkere

The national and state intelligence agencies have advised the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that “ some rights organisations ” that decry state violence are purposefully or at least effectively taking sides with Maoists and “ actively helping spread the Maoist ideology ”. They have suggested that “ the Union government take steps to limit the activities of leading human rights organizations ”

03 January, 2012

Humanocide: A New International Crime
And Human Rights Violation

By Mary Hamer

The purpose of this paper is to define a new Legal term: Humanocide. Humanocide is a new International crime & Human rights violation. Humanocide is a word derived from the basic Human rights terms: Genocide & Crimes against Humanity and the Psychological concepts of: Zerzetzen Psycho-Terror & Bullying/Mobbing. Mary Hamer define Humanocide simply: as 2 or more People in power who conspire to destroy a targeted person, either mentally &/or physically

14 December, 2011

Stories From Harlem
By Li Onesto

One of the things that keeps coming through in all these stories is how the police not only brutalize you, but they seem to make a sport of really trying to do everything they can to humiliate the people, especially the youth. And the people know it and deeply feel this

The Horribleness Of Enforced Disappearances
By Iqbal Alimohamed

It is time for governments everywhere to ponder the absolute necessity to end the phenomenon of Involuntary Disappearances through a global campaign. Cases must be brought before international Human Rights courts and bodies

21 November, 2011

14,231 Persons Died In police And Judicial Custody
In India From 2001 To 2010

By Suhas Chakma

"Torture in India 2011" states that a total of 14,231 persons i.e. more than four persons per day died in police and judicial custody in India from 2001 to 2010. This includes 1,504 deaths in police custody and 12,727 deaths in judicial custody from 2001-2002 to 2009-2010 as per the cases submitted to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)

11 September, 2011

In Search Of A Realistic Approach Towards
The Human Rights Movement In India

By Dipankar Chakrabarti

Our lesson is to join the political movement for the achievement of the basic economic and social rights of the people keeping aloft the flag of human rights, not sacrtificing it, to the pedastal of any other force

02 November, 2010

We Are Not Pro-Anyone, We Rre Only
Pro-Burma : Ko Bo Kyi

By Akanksha Mehta and Ava Patricia Avila

An Interview with Burmese Activist and Former Political Prisoner- Ko Bo Kyi

31July, 2010

Is Justice K.G. Balakrishnan Holding
A Devil's Brief, Asks ALRC

By ALRC

Justice Balakrishnan owes an apology to the country. His statement condoning extrajudicial execution negates the premises of the constitution that he has sworn allegiance to protect and fulfil. Through the statement he has proved that his legal intellect is unfit of leading a national institution that is mandated to protect, promote and fulfil human rights

30 April, 2010

U.P. Tops In Encounter Killings
And Custodial Deaths

By S.R.Darapuri

This State has won the notoriety of killing the maximum number of suspects in police encounters for the last many years. As per the statistics available during 2006, out of a total of 122 encounters for whole of India, U.P. had the figure of 82. In 2007 out of a total of 95 for whole of India, U.P. had 50 % i.e. 48. In 2008 as against 103 for whole of India U.P. had reached a figure of 41 and in 2009, U.P. attained a figure of 83 which puts the state on the top in encounter killings

16 April, 2010

Daniel McGowan
By Robert Meeropol

Daniel McGowan is one of more than a dozen “green scare defendants” now serving time in Federal prison. During the 1990’s several groups of young, militant environmental and animal rights activists engaged in property destruction actions such as burning SUV’s or destroying a horse slaughterhouse. After the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act, and more recently, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, federal prosecutors have been arresting those supposedly involved, treating them as domestic terrorists even though no people or animals were killed or even injured in any of their actions, and imposing long prison sentences upon them

03 April, 2010

China's Documentation Of US Human Rights Abuses
By Stephen Lendman

China's is accurate and revealing. It could have included more, but presents a disturbing account of the real America, not the fictional one portrayed daily on TV screens, films, major publication accounts, what's taught in schools or preached in houses of worship - a sanitized version of what growing millions experience daily and what Blacks, the poor, Muslims, Latino immigrants, and Native Americans have known all their lives as well as America's global victims

16 March, 2010

America's Secret Prisons
By Stephen Lendman

Besides Guantanamo, Afghanistan and Iraq, UN Human Rights Council said the CIA runs scores of offshore secret prisons in over 66 countries worldwide for dissidents and alleged terrorists - in Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, Morocco, Syria, Libya, Tunisia, India, Pakistan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Ethopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Poland, Romania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Thailand, Diego Garcia, and elsewhere

09 March, 2010

Human Rights Learning
By Shulamith Koenig

For all to know human rights as a way of life

06 March, 2010

In This Country Of Cant----10, 000 Dead
Do Not Count

By Trevor Selvam

Forget all the recent incidents in Dantewada of babies’ fingers being chopped off, mass rapes by the CRP and Salwa Judum, chopping off the breasts off 80 year old adivasi women, shooting up or arresting women who have dared to launch court cases against the police for the disappeared (Sodi Sambo). Teflon PCC! let us now talk about the over 10,000 Naxalites who were killed since 1967 to 1990. Was that violence or were those benign accidents? Is there some lawyer in India who will take up the case of the violence of the Indian State since 1967?

Holocaust Denial re Armenian Genocide And
Ongoing Palestinian, Iraqi And Afghan Genocides

By Dr Gideon Polya

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the US Congress House of Representatives has just voted 23 to 22 on Resolution 252 that recognizes the 1915-1923 Armenian Genocide as a genocide. The 23-22 vote enables the measure to go to the full House of Representatives - if the House leadership decides to bring it up. Turkey subsequently withdrew its ambassador to the US and the Obama Administration attacked the vote, Secretary of State Clinton declaring : “The Obama administration strongly opposes the resolution that was passed by only one vote by the House committee and will work very hard to make sure it does not go to the House floor

03 March, 2010

Shaker Aamer: Guantanamo's Last British Detainee
By Robert Verkaik

He was supposed to return to Britain in 2007 – but Shaker Aamer is still being held inside Camp Delta. Who is this charismatic prisoner? And what happened to him at the hands of MI5?

Habeas Challenges For Bagram Prisoners
By William Fisher

Four men who have been imprisoned for over a year – some for almost two years – are going to U.S. federal court to challenge their detention at the notorious Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan

02 March, 2010

African Americans Have Seven Times
Greater Chance Of Imprisonment

By Sherwood Ross

Many factors contribute to the incarceration today of more blacks than whites even though blacks make up just 13 percent of the U.S. population. For example, of nearly 250,000 state inmates serving time for drug offenses in 2004, 113,000 (or 45%) were blacks compared to 66,000, (or 26%) whites and 52,000, (or 21%) Hispanics

28 February, 2010

The Monoculture Of ‘Human Rights’
By Satya Sagar

The standards of human rights should in fact be seen as being like the ethics of the medical profession. Just as no ethical doctor can refuse to treat a patient because of his own or his patient’s personal political beliefs so is the civil or human rights activist duty bound to oppose all rights violations irrespective of who its victims are or who commits them. This is the minimum standard that has to be established- defending the fundamental human rights of even your political opponents if necessary

27 February, 2010

Abuse Of Immigrant Workers In South Korea
By Ben McGrath

An Amnesty International report, entitled “Disposable labour: Rights of migrant workers in South Korea,” documents the abhorrent working conditions that immigrants face. The study, released last October, clearly establishes that while South Korea was one of the first Asian countries to formally recognise the rights of foreign migrant workers, its Employment Permit System (EPS) does nothing more than legitimise the brutal exploitation of cheap labour from poorer countries

25 February, 2010

Global Sweatshop Wage Slavery
By Stephen Lendman

In today's globalized economy, capital is highly mobile, free to go anywhere for the highest return by fleeing locales with high taxes, strict labor laws, or rigorous environmental protections yielding lower profits by raising costs, the main one being labor that's easy to get cheap in developing states eager to grow and needing to new businesses do it. The result is a race to the bottom

22 February, 2010

The Battle Of Ideas, Part 1;
Private Property vs. The Commons

By Tom Stephens

The vicious circle of private property destroying human rights and the commons is becoming clearer all the time, as their system collapses and fails to deliver

16 February, 2010

Meet Maryam Ruhullah: A Victim Of MK-ULTRA
By Stephen Lendman

MK-ULTRA was the code name for a secret CIA mind control program, begun in 1953, under Director Allen Dulles. Maryam Ruhullah explains the torture she experienced as a victim of MK-ULTRA experimentation

28 January, 2010

There Is No Constitution In Chhattisgarh Anymore
By Harsh Dobhal

Anybody can be picked up, branded as Maoist and jailed, beaten up, smashed, charged with dubious cases, ordinary people are killed, tribal women get raped and assaulted, no peaceful protests are allowed, journalists, academics and filmmakers are followed, terrorised and not allowed to go inside villages, a general reign of fear stalks this poverty-stricken landscape

27 January, 2010

The Constitution Of India As A Tool Of Resistance
By Bobby Kunhu

It has become important to read the history of the Constitution of India as being rooted in the Poona Pact, re-appropriate the Constitution of India as a document representing the aspirations of marginalized communities, be it Dalits, Adivasis, religious or sexuality minorities, women or whomsoever and use it as a tool of resistance against subversions by State and non- State actors!

11 January, 2010

The Horror State Of Chhattisgarh
By Nandini Sundar

Ujjwal Kumar Singh, Professor of Political Science, Delhi University and Nandini Sundar have just returned (January 1st) from a visit to the police state of Chhattisgarh. A firsthand account from the belly of the beast

The Jan Sunwai That Never Was :
Listen To The Voices From Chhattisgarh!

By Peoples Union for Democratic Rights

In Dantewada a team of around 30 activists from NAPM and other organizations, Medha Patkar and Sandeep Pandey among them, were heckled, pelted with eggs and sewage and attacked by a large gang of tribal youth, accusing them of being Maoist sympathizers on Saturday

India's Inhuman Gunmen
By Gladson Dungdung

When the people of the entire world were greeting to each other, bursting crackers and enjoying delicious food on the occasion of the new year 2010, the police of Chhatarpur, Town and Sadar police stations of Palamu district, (which is the most Maoist infested area according to the government and the media reports) in Jharkhand, were engaged in humiliating, torturing and beating to death Rajendra Yadav of Telaria village (Chhatarpur) alleging him as a Naxalite

19 December, 2009

Plight Of The Stranded Pakistanis In Bangladesh
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

December 16 marks the 38th anniversary of the breakup of Pakistan when the Eastern wing of the country emerged as Bangladesh after an India-backed secessionist movement. The occasion calls for highlighting the plight of about 250,000 so-called Biharis or stranded Pakistanis still languishing in unsanitary camps in Bangladesh

Kevin Cooper - Victimized By American Injustice
By Stephen Lendman

On November 30, the US Supreme Court denied Kevin Cooper justice by not reviewing his wrongful murder conviction despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence. Cooper is Black and was framed for a multiple homicide he never committed. He's imprisoned on death row at San Quentin State Prison, Marin County, CA, a victim of American injustice

17 December, 2009

Targeting Lawyers: The Case Of Paul Bergrin
By Stephen Lendman

"My life is in crisis and I don't know where to turn....I really attempted to treat these soldiers and defend them like they were my own children." For that and threatening the powerful, Bergrin faces a possible life sentence if convicted in his 2010 trial. Until then, he's imprisoned without bail under a system rewarding high crimes while targeting lawyers who try to expose them

16 December, 2009

Justice For Mumia Abu-Jamal
By Mary Shaw

Rights groups call for Justice Department probe into Mumia Abu-Jamal case

Alban Toppo Describes His Illegal Detention
By Alban Toppo

Note from Alban Toppo, Advocate, Human Rights Law Network

13 December, 2009

The Curious Case Of Vikram Buddhi
By Dr. Shah Alam Khan

On December 11, 2009 Vikram Buddhi was handed a four years nine months prison sentence. So much for posting hate messages against the then President George W Bush and his team of gangsters. I suppose if this was his crime, then at least half the world’s population would be behind bars! We all know how popular the butcher of Baghdad was

08 December, 2009

Apology To The Native American Indians
By Dr. Mary Hamer, M.D

This essay is an Apology to the Native American Indians for 500+ years of domination, oppression & genocide by invading, occupying & colonizing people & governments – for a time span extending from Columbus’ discovery of America in 1492 up until the present day

06 December, 2009

Democracy Encountered:Rights Violations
In Manipur

By Fact Finding Team

Independent citizen's fact finding report to the nation

25 November, 2009

Everyone Should Be Aware Of Their
Inalienable Human Rights

By Shulamith Koenig

Allow me humbly to ask you to walk with me into this discourse about human rights as a way of life, slowly and thoughtfully. Let us bring a new expansive meaning to this overarching holistic vision and practical mission through learning and dialogue

11 November, 2009

Lynne Stewart: Heroic Human Rights Lawyer Jailed
By Stephen Lendman

The situation remains fluid, dire, and complicated by Stewart's battle with breast cancer. She has surgery scheduled for December 7, unlikely now, but if done in prison or where authorities direct, it won't be the quality she deserves

10 October, 2009

Remembering Balagopal:
A Fearless People’s Advocate

By Mahtab Alam

Prof. K. Balagopal, who was at the forefront of the human, civil and democratic rights’ movements throughout the country especially Andhra Pradesh for over a quarter of a century left this world on 8th October late night following a heart attack. He was selfless intellectual, tireless human rights’ defender, fearless People’s advocate and a great human being

09 October, 2009

Why Human Rights Groups Targeted?
By Gladson Dungdung

The Union Home Minister P.Chidambaram even threatened to the Human Rights Groups by saying that the Human Rights Groups have to choose, which side they are. He also questioned, "Why are human rights groups silent now when Naxals attack innocents?" However, he said, “Human rights groups need to speak more strongly against the Naxals.”

23 September, 2009

Whether Human Rights Of Prisoners
Stand Suspended?

By Subhash Gatade

The letter sent by an undertrial Mukesh Kumar, as present lodged in Karnal Jail (Haryana) through his counsel to the Chief Justice of India makes depressing reading. The letter talks about the manner in which he was brutalised by the Jail staff for disobeying their orders. It is learnt that the Jail wardens compelled him to clean the toilets calling him names and 'reminding' him of his 'caste profession'. His refusal to continue the dehumanising work led to his public thrashing and tonsuring/shaving of his head and moustache

14 September, 2009

Encounters Are Murders
By Bernard D'Mello

The title of the Tarkunde report, Encounters Are Murders, needs reiteration in the present ambience of "cultivated ignorance" in the sphere of "governance" that brushes off extra-judicial killings as mere aberrations. That encounters are murders also needs restating in the context of the pathological, persistent mendacity in public life in India and the absurd claim of po-mos that each "narrative" is as true as the other

Honour Killings In Haryana
By Kavita Krishnan

Mahendra Singh Tikait’s outrageous and offensive remarks once again raise the question: why do the khaap panchayats of Haryana and Western UP which open issue ‘death sentences’ for couples who defy their caste-diktats on love and marriage, enjoy impunity?

18 August, 2009

Indian Police: Broken System
By S.R Darapuri

The recently published Human Rights Watch report documents a range of human rights violations committed by police, including arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and extrajudicial killings. It documents the failings of state police forces that operate outside the law, lack sufficient ethical and professional standards, are overstretched and outmatched by criminal elements, and unable to cope with increasing demands and public expectations

04 August, 2009

Adivasis’ Atruggle Against Displacement
In Jharkhand

By Gladson Dungdung

Jharkhand is witness of unending struggle for mineral resources as the state contains 40 percent of India’s precious minerals like Uranium, Mica, Bauxite, Granite, Gold, Silver, Graphite, Magnetite, Dolomite, Fireclay, Quartz, Fieldspar, Coal, Iron and Copper. 102 MoUs have been signed for establishing steel factories, power plants and mining industries with the estimated investment of Rs 4,67,240 crore, which require approximately 200,000 acres of land, which directly means the displacement of approximately 1 million people

03 August, 2009

Your House, My House: Batla House
By Amit Sengupta

The eminent members of the NHRC should have visited the dingy bylanes of Batla House and Jamia Nagar next to the Jamia Millia University in Delhi soon after the encounter: the white fear of the Special Cell of the Delhi Police was as visible as colour white, as cold and as cutting as ice, you could slash it with a knife and find its cold edges inside the skin and eyes. So intense was the fear

23 July, 2009

Citizens Statement On The NHRC Clean Chit
To Special Cell On Batla House

By Concerned Citzens

Statement on the NHRC report on the alleged encounter at Batla house

17 July, 2009

Unratified India And Tortured People
By NM Salih

In the wake June 26, which marked the International Day against torture, the Asian Centre for Human Rights released a report named ‘Torture in India 2009’, compiling the true facts of ill-treated human rights in India. This report has zeroed in on custodial tortures especially by the police, armed forces and armed opposition groups etc. It reveals several accounts of atrocities by the so called law enforcement officers from all over India. The panoptic narrative of deaths in the police custody with detailed state wise account of such incidents rules the roost in this report

09 July, 2009

A Tale Of Two Encounters:
Dehradun And Batla House

By Manish Sethi & Adeel Mehdi

Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Group reiterates its demand for a judicial probe into the Batla House incident, and the application of the same standards of justice for Atif and Sajid as those applied in the unfortunate and tragic case of Ranbir Singh

Child Labour-A Hindrance In Development
By Divya Bhargava

Child Labour is not only a hindrance in child's development but also a hindrance in nation's development. Children are universally recognized as the most important asset of any nation and child Labour, in the recent past, has evoked a great concern among all. Children have been the main focus of attention especially after proclaiming the year 1979 as the International Year of the Child by the United Nation's General Assembly

15 June, 2009

New UN Report Denounces America's
Human Rights Record

By Stephen Lendman

On May 26, the UN Human Rights Council issued a report titled "Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Including the Right to Development - Report of the Special Rapporteur (Philip Alston) on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions." Alston was damning in his criticism regarding "three areas in which significant improvement is necessary if the US Government is to match its actions to its stated commitment to human rights and the rule of law:"

03 June, 2009

Democratic Space- What Is That?
By Dr. Shah Alam Khan

As if the Chhattisgarh government was not good enough to rain destruction on a soul like Dr Binayak Sen, we now have the Madhya Pradesh government arrest Mrs. Shamim Modi, a social activist and a law graduate working among the tribals in Betul district of the state. Geographically they seem to be different states with different issues; the fact that they are ruled by the same party is uncanny. What is even more interesting is the fact that both Dr Sen and Mrs Modi were involved in raising issues of the local people; their health, their employment and very importantly their environment

30 May, 2009

Draconian Laws, Delete Them
By Dr. Mookhi Amir Ali

If the legal fraternity and the Delhi High Court Bar Association can stop this amendment to Section 41 of the Criminal Procedure Act from being notified why can they not protest against the anti-people draconian laws being enacted or being misused? Why can we not revise our books to get rid of laws which violate human rights and right to liberty?

25 May, 2009

Binayak Sen Released On Bail
By Bobby Ramakant

Bail was granted to the paediatrician Dr Binayak Sen who was jailed in Raipur prison since more than two years now, on alleged false charges of abetting maoist activities in Chattisgarh, sedition and waging war against the state

04 May, 2009

A Moralistic Doublespeak Of Man Mohan Singh
By Anand Teltumbde

Binayak Sen’s case ought to nibble at our national conscience for long time to come!

29 April, 2009

Binayak Sen: Prisoner of Conscience
By Anand Patwardhan

May 14 this year will mark an ignominious date for Indian democracy the start of the third straight year of Binayak Sen’s incarceration in a Chhattisgarh jail. I wonder if there are words left to describe this travesty. What is left to say that has not been said?

23 April, 2009

Dr. Binayak Sen Is In Danger
By Ilina Sen

lina Sen’s SOS Message on Conspiracy by Chhattisgarh Administration

22 April, 2009

Lies And Torture - When Policies
And Words Diverge

By Emily Spence

If American government leaders cannot uphold the law and universally apply it across the board, then all of the underlying principles of our nation's founding fathers, our justice system, itself, and the ethical underpinnings that make our country truly great are without value. They are merely empty platitudes and nothing more

21 April, 2009

Roxana Saberi And Vikram Buddhi –
Compel A Comparison

By Dr. Buddhi Kotasubbarao

A comparison of the case of 31 year old Iranian-American journalist Ms. Roxana Saberi sentenced by Iranian Court and the case of 37 year old Indian Graduate Student of Purdue University Mr. Vikram Buddhi awaiting sentencing after a helpless jury found him guilty in US District Court, has much to show the entrenched preferences of the United States of America

05 April, 2009

Towards The Second Year Of Mockery
By Jhuma Sen

A month to go and India will again show that the cost of dissent a peaceful man pays in this country is a detention for two years on fictitious grounds. Binayak Sen is held in prison inspite of international pressure for his release

02 April, 2009

Bring On The Misery!
By Charukesi Ramadurai

Article on a recent photoessay that was published in the Washington Post documenting the procedure of female genital mutilation of a 7 year old in Kurdish Iraq - the article questions the photographer's (and publication's) insensitivity to the victim by revealing her name and face in the essay

25 March, 2009

Human Rights Evicted
By Jhuma Sen

A Review of the UDHR: From in‘adequate' Housing to Forced Evictions and the Myth of Adequate Housing in India

18 March, 2009

Treatment Of Imprisoned Muslims At Terre Haute's
Communications Management Unit (CMU)

By Stephen Lendman

In February 2007, it was learned that Washington had a secret new facility for so-called "high-security risk" Muslim and Middle Eastern prisoners in violation of federal law that prohibits severely limiting or cutting them off entirely from other inmates as well as outside contacts and communications. Segregating prisoners by race, national origin, or language violates the Supreme Court's February 2005 decision in Johnson v. California that affirmed 14th Amendment protection against racial discrimination. Specifically, the Court

07 March, 2009

Exposing Human Rights Violations In Pakistan
By Q. Isa Daudpota

Brave women such as Mukhtar Mai and Minallah backed by women’s organizations such as Women’s Action Forum, work to highlight and undue the prejudices and help outdated and diabolical customs. PPP women such as Sherry Rahman, Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Shazia Marri, Sassui Palejo, Farzana Raja and, ace-researcher on Karo Kari, Nafisa Shah must speak out in the public forums against guilty fellow legislators and ministers. They have seriously violated the human rights and particularly that of women. To date, however, their silence is deafening

06 March, 2009

Modern Slavery In America
By Stephen Lendman

Called human trafficking or forced labor, modern slavery thrives in America, largely below the radar

11 February, 2009

Children Of A Lesser God?
Abandoned And Stricken Too!

By Anjali Singh

In the first ever incident of its kind the state of Uttar Pradesh is struggling with its growing disabled population. As grim as that sounds the fact remains that a single seven year old blind and deaf destitute child has become a huge challenge for not only the government of UP but its citizen's at large as well

31 Janurary, 2009

Manichean Echoes: Terrorists As Sub-Human
By Binu Karunakaran

The opinion expressed recently by one of the senior judges in the Supreme Court of India, shows that the judiciary too has started to feel the pressure imposed by politicians who feed the rhetoric on terror as a means to garner votes and a society that feels terrorised in the absence of security. Such thoughts render the concept of fair trial invalid. The fact that such a statement came from top echelons of our judiciary means that list of worries of India's civil society is a growing list

02 Janurary, 2009

India Sleepwalks To Total Surveillance
By Binu Karunakaran

The Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2006 passed by the Indian Parliament recently allows the government to intercept messages from mobile phones, computers and other communication devices to investigate any offence. Not just cognizable offence, the kind you witnessed in Mumbai 26/11, but any offence. Any email you send, any message you text are now open to the prying eyes of the government. So are the contents of your computer you surfed in the privacy of your home

20 December, 2008

India's New Terror Law Shows Old Genes
By Binu Karunakaran

The 2008 amendments made to UAPA show that several POTA genes have been transplanted. Clauses added to section 43 of the Principal act now blatantly asks the courts 'to presume, unless the contrary is shown, that the accused has committed such offence' if evidence suggesting the involvement of the accused has been found at the site

Our Politicians Are Still Not Listening
By Colin Gonsalves

In a knee-jerk reaction to the Mumbai terror attacks, Government of India proposes to enact The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2008. Under section 15, the prosecution is to be granted upto 180 days to file a chargesheet (it is a 90 day limit today after which the accused is granted bail mandatorily), the provisions for bail are stricter, and if arms or explosives are proved to be recovered from the accused, then the court is entitled to presume that the accused has committed a terrorist act

India's New Anti-Terror Laws Draconian
Say Activists

By Praful Bidwai

Following the late November terror attacks in Mumbai, India has passed two tough laws being seen by rights activists as potentially eroding the country’s federal structure and limiting fundamental liberties

Amnesty International Criticises
India's New Terror Laws

By Amnesty International

India's New Anti-terror Laws Would Violate International Human Rights Standards

01 December, 2008

Hospitals or Hell?
By V. Sasi Kumar & Sundar Ramanathaiyer

Mental hospitals in India are very much like hell. No one
seems to be bothered about what happens there. People, even journalists, are not allowed to visit the wards. Very little news comes out of their prison-like campuses. Once in a while we even hear reports of rape and sodomy. Becoming a mental patient is often worse than death

28 November, 2008

Sri Lanka: Human Rights Situation
Deteriorating In The East

By Human Rights Watch

Many abuses in the Eastern Province appear to have been carried out by armed elements of the Tamil Makkal Vidulthalai Pulikal (TMVP). The TMVP was originally the political wing of the armed faction earlier known as the Karuna group. It enjoys the strong backing of the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse

03 November, 2008

Humanrights Defenders
As Petty Swindlers: It's All Maya!

By Subhash Gatade

It has been more than one and half year that 'Dalit ke Beti' Maya rode to power in the state promising end to 'goondaism' of the earlier regime. Little could people have the premonition that under the new dispensation the police itself would become another 'synonym for terror'

30 October, 2008

Repression Escalates: Reporter Pedro Matías
Kidnapped And Tortured In Oaxaca

By Scott Campbell

Pedro Matías, a well-known reporter who writes for Noticias, a local daily paper, as well as the national weekly Proceso, was kidnapped, beaten, tortured and robbed on Saturday night in Oaxaca

29 October, 2008

Targeting Dissent: The San Francisco Eight
By Stephen Lendman

Support the San Francisco Eight. Demand their exoneration and release. Their struggle is ours

26 October, 2008

Can Georgia Do Right?
By David Morse

Is the legal system of the state of Georgia up to the task – when the task is to rectify the flawed trial of a black man accused of killing a white police officer? The world is waiting to see if justice can prevail. Fortunately, on Friday, October 24, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Georgia’s 11th Circuit issued a stay of execution that narrowly prevented accused cop killer Troy Davis from being put to death by lethal injection the following Monday

24 October, 2008

Seyed Mousavi: Guilty Of Being Muslim
In Police State America

By Stephen Lendman

In a climate of fear, Muslims risk harassment, prosecution and incarceration. Especially prominent ones like Mousavi. His defense will appeal and seek exoneration at the appellate court level. For now, he's incarcerated and subjected to dehumanizing treatment. For being Muslim in America at the wrong time. Only his inner strength sustains him. And the love and admiration of his family, friends and supporters. In today's disturbing climate, we're all Seyed Mousavis

20 October, 2008

Case Of Shahbaz Ahmed Arrested In connection
With Serial Bomb Blasts In Jaipur

By PUCL-PUHR

A PUCL-PUHR fact finding report on accused in Serial Bomb Blasts In Jaipur

08 October, 2008

Justice For Yemini Sheik
By Stephen Lendman

This time is different for Yemini Sheik Mohammed Ali Hassan Al-Moayad and his assistant Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed. On October 2, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously reversed their unjustifiable convictions. More on that below

22 September, 2008

US Backed Arroyo Regime Terrorizes
Media And Artists In The Philippines

By E. San Juan Jr.

Patronized by the war-mongering Bush administration, the corrupt militarist Arroyo regime in the Philippines continues its systematic repression of journalists, writers and media personnel to preserve its brutal oppression of millions of workers, peasants, women, and professionals

19 September, 2008

India's Terror Laws: Fighting Terror
The Terrorist Way

By Badri Raina

And those questions are not being asked just by India's Muslims; they are also being asked by India's Christians, Dalits, women, forest-dwelling tribals, disenfranchised oustees, landless farm labour, ethnic minorities. They are in the eyes of the hundreds of thousands of children who suffer malnutrition, abuse, denial of education, and whose lives expire prematurely from labour and disease. They are being asked, in short, by some 77% Indians who spend less than fifty cents a day

09 September, 2008

An Encounter With The Terror Police
By Sandeep Pandey

An eyewitness account of what happened when the police came to search the house of a terror suspect in Lucknow, and the high handed action that followed

29 August, 2008

Warriors Against The State
By Harsh Mander

It is alleged by the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh that Lateef Mohammed Khan is what the local police like to describe as a “jehadi” terrorist. Ajay T.G. is accused by the BJP government of Chhatisgarh of abetting Maoist Naxalite insurgency. There is much that these two men share in common. They both come from relatively modest backgrounds. Unsung and relatively unknown, in quiet ways they have effectively strived fearlessly and with passion to find ways to work for what they believe to be justice, using the law of the land and constructive social resistance

26 August, 2008

Dr Binayak Sen, My Brother, Our Hero
By Dipankar Sen

Twenty two Nobel Laureates pleaded for him in an appeal to the Prime Minister of India. He was given the highest American medical award, honours by medical colleges and doctors in recognition of his protracted work for the poor in remote interiors. And yet, he is condemned in jail on fabricated charges by the BJP government in Chhattisgarh. Dr Binayak Sen's younger brother arrives from Belgium to seek justice for his Dada, and discovers a saga of pain and injustice

07 August, 2008

Australian Federal Intervention In
Indigenous Communities In The Northern Territory

By Chris Wilson

My time over the last six weeks has enabled me to see some of the effects of the Intervention and while I have to agree that there are some positive effects, there are huge problems and structural issues that have been completely ignored and many others that have been created as a result

04 August, 2008

Why Is Habeas Corpus Such A Threat
To Those In Power?

By Maher Osseiran

Why is the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold habeas corpus rights for the Guantanamo detainees so scary that Senator Lindsey Graham, with the support of McCain, will “explore the possibility, if necessary, of a constitutional amendment to blunt the effect of this decision”? What is so fundamentally wrong with the Supreme Court’s decision, whose members are conservative or Bush appointees, to warrant amending our constitution? Have Senators Graham and McCain lost their minds?

18 June, 2008

Standing With The Poor Is A Crime
By Gladson Dungdung

Binayak Sen, Prof. Jean Dreze and Kirity Roy are paying the price for their passion, courage and extraordinary work for the poor

09 May, 2008

When Lawyers Masquerade As Judges
By Subhash Gatade

Ismail Jalagir, a senior counsel from Hubli (Karnataka) and Mohammad Shoaib, a senior advocate from Lucknow (U.P.) might not have heard about each other. But even their strongest critics would admit that they are made of the same mettle.If there are rewards meant for lawyers who are ready to go the extra mile to defend rigths granted to citizens under the constitution then both these worthy citizens of the country would be the first on the list

30 April, 2008

Governing Human Rights Violation
And Dr. Binayak Sen

By Arpita Banerjee

The unethical detention of Dr. Binayak Sen is one of the many glaring examples of state repression. On May 14th 2008, it will be one year since Dr. Sen was arrested under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act and the Crimes Against the State Chapter of the Indian Penal Code. The Supreme Court of India has denied the bail petition, ironically on the International Human Rights Day on December 10, 2007

18 April, 2008

Updating Sami Al-Arian - His Ordeal Continues
By Stephen Lendman

The Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice supports Al-Arian proudly, it's backed him from the start, and it urges everyone of conscience to contact their elected officials, DOJ and DHS to demand that justice delayed him no longer be denied. His imprisonment term ended April 11, yet he remains confined. His plea bargain stipulated that his long ordeal end and that he be deported expeditiously

India: Rot In The prisons
By Colin Gonsalves

Applying even the most retrogressive standards, Indian prisoners are the pits — a level of perversity matched only by our pious, moralistic and sanctimonious preachings abroad. In the land of Gandhiji and non-violence, prisons remain depraved and brutish. Internally the prisoners rot

Who Would Wipe Professor Sanaullah Radoo's Tears?
By Subhash Gatade

Perhaps it is high time that the honourable Prime Minister is told that 'Dr Haneef' is not just the name of doctor who was wrongly apprehended in Australia rather it is another name for a phenomenon which is quite rampant in this part of the earth. And the case of Pervez Ahmad Radoo is one such important case which demands his immediate intervention. Such a move only can bring back the smile on Professor Sanaullah's face !

15 April, 2008

Tibet Exposes Genocidal
Australian Human Rights Abuses

By Dr Gideon Polya

Australia and other Western nations have been properly chiding China for human rights abuses in Tibet. However Australia has an appalling human rights record as assessed by the horrendous avoidable deaths of its domestic and overseas Indigenous subjects. Indeed White Australia’s appalling and genocidal human rights record has prompted formal complaint to the ICC over Australia’s involvement in ongoing Aboriginal, Iraqi, Afghan and Climate Genocides

29 March, 2008

Armed Together Against Civil Liberties
And Human Rights

By Wali Laskar

Although there is no indigenous Armed Opposition Group operating in Barak Valley, the southern part of the North Eastern state of Assam in India comprising of Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts with a population of about four million, has been notified as 'disturbed area' under the infamous Armed Forces (Special Power) Act, 1958

26 March, 2008

Sami Al-Arian's Long Ordeal
By Stephen Lendman

Sami Al-Arian is a political prisoner in Police State America. This article reviews his case briefly and updates it to the present

25 March, 2008

UN Scolds Washington For War On Migrants
By Cyril Mychalejko

The United Nations released a report this month scolding the United States for disregarding international law and violating the human rights of migrants

19 March, 2008

Human Rights Situation In Barak Valley In Assam
By Waliullah Ahmed Laskar

Some recent grave cases of violation of human rights perpetrated in the valley, which are documented by BHRPC, would drive home the points made above. So some of them are given below as samples

Uprooted, Abandoned
By Gladson Dungdung

Everything has changed in the last 60 years of independence in India but the unending pain of "displacement" has become as part and partial of the life of 50 years old Satish Kishku of Takkipur village, situated near Canada Dam widely known as Mayurakshi Dam of Dumka district in Jharkhand

04 March, 2008

Two African American Students Under Suspension
Over Chewing Gum!

By Kendra Perry

A teacher overheard Marcus speaking with another student, Stacy Guess (also a Black student), and him mentioning that he made money selling candy and that teacher notified the Principal, resulting in both students’ suspension. Neither of the two students was caught selling anything on school grounds, nor were they found to be in possession of any candy or gum. Because of the implication of said action, the school felt it was necessary in suspending both children for 5 days off hearsay and speculation, and not the result of a particular action or inaction

27 February, 2008

To Hang Or Not To Hang?
By Bal Patil

In India death penalty is awarded in the rarest of the rare cases. As a protagonish of the abolition of capital punishment I would like to reproduce my comments in my article “To Hang or Not To Hang” published in The Illustrated Weekly of India, dated. 18.02.1979 which I venture to think are still relevant originally published about three decades back because judicial perspective or the lack of it has not changed over the course of three decades

21 February, 2008

Juno: Fact And Fiction
By Mirah Riben

The comedic fictional movie Juno has garnered praise, awards and nominations. It also created uproar among those of us for whom adoption is not a comedy, but our life

19 February, 2008

Australian Aboriginal Genocide Continues
Despite Historic Apology

By Dr Gideon Polya

PM Rudd’s speech and Apology was largely confined to the Stolen Generations – indeed the word “Aboriginal Genocide” was NOT used even though what happened to the Indigenous Australians has been recognized as an Aboriginal Genocide

An Invisible Refuge
By Vinod K. Jose

Military excesses in Myanmar are forcing thousands of ethnic Chins to flee to Mizoram, but India won't accept them

12 February, 2008

How Neo-Liberalism Has Created
The World's Immigration Crisis

By Jerry D. Rose

We like to think, of course, that we are more "enlightened" than the religious fanatics who carried out the Salem witch trials. That remains to be seen, as he have yet to see whether an "enlightened" path can be found from witch-persecution to the recognition of the common humanity of the earth's peoples

15 January, 2008

Afghan Prison Looks Like Another Guantanamo
By William Fisher

It is a prison located on the U.S. military base at base in the ancient city of Bagram near Charikar in Parvan, Afghanistan. The detention centre was set up by the U.S. military as a temporary screening site after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan overthrew the Taliban. It currently houses some 630 prisoners -- close to three times as many as are still held at Guantanamo

14 January, 2008

Face To Face With Munir Malik
By Baber Ayaz

We are publishing an interview with Munir Malik, the former president of the Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association who was imprisoned and given drugs under the pretext of painkillers which caused him renal failure and liver damage, but who continues to be an inspiration for the movement for the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law in Pakistan

03 January, 2008

Advertisements Need To Respect Human Rights
By Anil Gulati

A TV advertisement concerning Happydent teeth whitening gum represented the worst case of human rights violation; the advertisement is still being run. May be it is a call to act

Right To Education At Crossroads In Jharkhand
By Gladson Dungdung

More than 4 lakh children are still engaged as child labourers in the state

For More Stories In This Section Go To Humanrights Archive

 





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