Home2013Monthly Archives: August 2013

Monthly Archives: August 2013

India LGBTQ Community Want Guidelines for Media Reporting

SAHR August 22, 2013

The LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgenders, queer) community in the country is about to approach the state human rights commission to set up guidelines about reporting issues related to them. This has come about in the wake of a newspaper in a small town in the state writing a story that equated their lifestyle to sex trade.
In the week following the said article being published, gay right activists from all over the state had assembled in the town for a dialogue with the editor of the newspaper. The meeting was arranged in the local police headquarters. However, after making the activists wait for a considerable time, the editor slipped out saying he had some urgent work outside the city. Numerous letters to the newspaper and the owners of the media group were answered by means of a follow up article, which also did not help the cause.
“It is difficult for most gay people to ‘come out’. With such discriminatory articles, not only would they be discouraged from revealing themselves but the society would never have a positive opinion of our community,” said Sonal Giani, advocacy officer of Mumbai-based NGO Humsafar Trust, one of the first organizations to promote gay rights in the country. She was among the activists waiting in the police commissioner’s office for a meeting that never happened. The activists also staged a sit-in protest later.

SAHR Vehemently Condemns the Arbitrary Arrest of Human Rights Activist Adilur Rahman Khan

SAHR August 15, 2013

South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) vehemently condemns the arbitrary arrest of Mr. Adilur Rahman Khan, a Senior Lawyer of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and a former Deputy Attorney General who currently holds office as Secretary of Odhikar, a Bangladeshi Human Rights Organization.

We are concerned that the Chief Metropolitan Court of Bangladesh initially allowed a five-day remand to interrogate Mr. A. R Khan, which was later stayed by the High Court. As there is evidence of torture linked to police remand in South Asia, we believe that the trial courts of Bangladesh should be very careful in allowing the remand of persons arrested without any specific case, as with regards to Mr. A. R. Khan.

It was reported that about 10 plain-clothes officers from the Detective Branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police took Mr. A. R Khan into custody on the 10th of August 2013 from outside his residence in Dhaka. The men carried no arrest warrant with them at the time of forcible removal and SAHR is of the opinion that the manner in which Mr. A. R Khan was arrested and detained is wholly unconstitutional and in violation of his fundamental rights.

Lawyers Collective Sri Lanka Urges Govt to Control Armed Forces

SAHR August 5, 2013

The Lawyers Collective in Sri Lanka issued a statement Saturday, condemning the violence unleashed on civil protesters and the killing of a number of the same. The statement called on the Government of Sri Lanka to control its armed forces whilst strongly condemning the Government’s continuous ferocity against peaceful protesters.

‘The Government has displayed total disrespect to the constitutional guarantees on civil liberties of its own citizens. Evidence clearly establishes that deplorable levels of force including live bullets were used on the unarmed villagers. The assailants also assaulted journalists and grabbed their cameras by force when they were doing their job covering the event. Lawyers Collective urges stern actions against those responsible for ordering and carrying out this brutal attack.

The legal fraternity urges the Government to control its military and ensure that they are used for legitimate purposes only. In a constitutional democracy, attacking peaceful unarmed protesters or disrupting legitimate civil activities of the citizens is not a legitimate objective of the Armed Forces or the law enforcement authorities.