The year was marked by harsh crackdowns on human rights defenders and people perceived to be dissidents, as well as the systematic repression of ethnic minorities. The beginning of the year saw the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, which killed more than 4,600 people in China. People...

Responding to the three-and-a-half year prison sentence handed to Chinese human rights lawyer Chang Weiping for “subversion of state power” today at Feng County Detention Centre, Shaanxi province, the Head of Amnesty International’s China Team, Sarah Brooks, said: “It is an outrage that Chang...

Responding to the Hong Kong government’s bid to seek a court order to prohibit people from singing, broadcasting or distributing the protest song “Glory to Hong Kong”, the Head of Amnesty International’s China Team, Sarah Brooks, said: “The Hong Kong government’s absurd campaign to outlaw a song...

Responding to the arrests of four people for “seditious intention and disorderly conduct” in Hong Kong ahead of the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown, Amnesty International’s interim Deputy Regional Director for Research Montse Ferrer said: “The Hong Kong government is once again using...

4 June, 1989 is etched into history as the day the Chinese authorities ruthlessly stamped out peaceful protest. Chinese troops shot dead hundreds, if not thousands, of people who had taken to the streets in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to call for political reforms. No one knows the true...

Reacting to the vast numbers of people worldwide expected to mark Earth Day on 22 April, Marta Schaaf, Amnesty International’s Director of Climate, Economic and Social Justice, and Corporate Accountability programme said: “Hundreds of millions of people around the world are expected to mark Earth...

Responding to the lengthy prison sentences handed to Chinese legal scholar Xu Zhiyong and human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi, Amnesty International’s China Researcher Alkan Akad said: “The disgraceful sentencing of prominent Chinese human rights defenders Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi is a blatant...

Responding to the arrest of two men in Hong Kong for possession of children’s books – classified as “seditious materials” – that depicted mainland Chinese authorities as leaders of the wolves, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director Hana Young said: “People’s freedoms have been battered in...

An International Women’s Day march scheduled this Sunday will be the first officially authorized protest in Hong Kong since 2020. The Hong Kong Women Workers’ Association announced on Thursday that it had received a verbal approval for a “notice of no objection” regarding the march. However, the...

Responding to news that the governor of China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang), Erkin Tuniyaz, is due to meet officials from the UK government, the European Union (EU) and EU member states on a visit in the coming days, Amnesty International’s China Researcher Alkan Akad said: “As...

As Hong Kong’s biggest national security law trial of 47 democracy advocates began today, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director Hana Young said: “This case has been an obscene injustice since the unprecedented mass prosecution of the 47 defendants began in March 2021. “In a trial that...

Responding to widespread protests unprecedented in recent years, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director Hana Young said: “The tragedy of the Urumqi fire has inspired remarkable bravery across China. Peaceful protesters are holding blank pieces of paper, chanting slogans, and engaging in...

Responding to the announcement that Xi Jinping will serve as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China for a third term, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director Hana Young said: “Confirmation of Xi Jinping’s third term is an ominous moment not only for the millions of Chinese...