Nice to see the Torygraph take a stance on human rights issues
The Telegraph refers to a Amnesty report published Monday and writes:
This year several prominent Chinese civil rights lawyers have either been detained or had their licenses withdrawn as Beijing tightens control ahead of next months 60th anniversary of Communist rule in China.
According to a report published by rights group Amnesty International on Monday lawyers daring to offer representation to those who challenge the power of the Chinese one-party state have borne the brunt of the clampdown.
“In the first half of 2009 alone, Amnesty International has learned of at least four human rights lawyers who have been threatened with violence; at least 10 who were prevented from meeting with or representing their clients in courts, and at least five who were briefly detained, one for one month, because of their human rights work,” the report said.
“In recent months, an unprecedented offensive against human rights lawyers, legal activists and legal aid organisation has threatened not only the legal profession and the “weiquan” [civil rights defence] movement but also the very future of the justice system in China.”
Lawyers who have been targeted by the authorities include those trying to represent members of the banned Falun Gong cult, petitioners angry at state-sanctioned land grabs and rioters who took part in July’s ethnic unrest in the western province of Xinjiang.
See the full report at? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/6147086/China-waging-offensive-against-human-rights-lawyers.html
