15 h. ago China’s human rights lawyers speak out, 10 years after crackdown

In 2015, a nationwide campaign rounded up hundreds of rights advocates. Since then, suppression has become more systematic and less visible, lawyers sayA decade on from China’s biggest crackdown on human rights lawyers in modern history, lawyers and activists say that the Chinese Communist party’s control over the legal profession has tightened, making rights defence work next to impossible.The environment for human rights law has “steadily regressed, especially after the pandemic”, said Ren Quanniu, a disbarred human rights lawyer. “Right now, the rule of law in China – especially in terms of protecting human rights – has deteriorated to a point where it’s almost comparable to the Cultural Revolution era.” The Cultural Revolution was a decade of mass chaos unleashed by China’s former leader Mao Zedong in 1966. During that time judicial organs were attacked as “bourgeois” and the nascent court system was largely suspended. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Dramatic moment onlookers form human chain to rescue boy trapped in weir

This is the extraordinary moment a boy was rescued from a weir after a group of onlookers formed a human chain in China.

Events

5 d. ago Why Diddy may soon be NOT GUILTY on ALL charges: Egregious prosecution blunder exposed by OJ Simpson lawyer ALAN DERSHOWITZ

Alan Dershowitz, legendary civil right lawyer and a member of OJ Simpson's renowned legal 'Dream Team,' says Combs's convictions will likely be overturned on appeal.

Politics

2 w. ago Family of Annabel Rook issue statement after mum found dead with stab wounds in exploded house

The former human rights lawyer was a 'truly wonderful woman'

Society

2 w. ago What are the legal issues around Britain helping Trump bomb Iran?

Keir Starmer is weighing up whether to back the US and – as a lawyer – will be aware of the legal landscapeMiddle East crisis – live updatesUK politics live – latest updatesAs Keir Starmer considers whether Britain should support the US if Donald Trump decides to bomb Iran, the attorney general, Richard Hermer, has reportedly warned him that UK involvement could be illegal. The prime minister was an outspoken opponent of the Iraq war when he was a human rights lawyer in 2003 and will be well aware of the thorny legal issues around engagement in strikes against Iran. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Mum and human rights lawyer named as 'murder' victim after fatal stabbing and house explosion

The victim has been identified as "lovely" lawyer and mother-of-two Annabel Rook, whose body was discovered with knife wound injuries following the explosion.

Events

3 w. ago Kathy Lette looks back: ‘Older women are invisible, so I make sure to do something outrageous every day’

The author on her love for Spike Milligan, the furore over Puberty Blues, and why being middle-aged is greatBorn in 1958 in Sydney, Kathy Lette burst on to Australia’s literary scene in 1979 with Puberty Blues. Co‑written with Gabrielle Carey, the irreverent portrait of teenage girlhood became a cult classic, a film and a TV series. Relocating to London in the 1980s, Lette has worked as a columnist, television writer and campaigner, and has published a string of bestselling comic novels. She lives in London and has two children, Julius and Georgina, with her former husband, the human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson. Her latest novel, The Revenge Club, is out now.When I was 19, I was in a band called the Salami Sisters. As well as the occasional gig in a pub, we’d busk. The problem was, we kept getting arrested. I was furious. How come we were getting arrested for singing, when actual rapists were running free? My sister was a police constable at the time, so one day I bor...

Politics