The Chinese government is waging a campaign of harassment and intimidation of lawyers, to stop them defending the dozens of activists and political critics rounded up by the authorities in the last two months. Since an anonymous online...

Ding Fangguan (known as Gu Chuan), 30, a writer and human rights activist, was detained on 19 February. He has been held incommunicado since. He is at risk of torture and other ill-treatment. His wife Li Xinai, 28, and their two...

"Both the present Government and its predecessor misjudged the risk that arms approved for export to certain authoritarian countries in North Africa and the Middle East might be used for internal repression." Just what you might expect...

I once made the mistake of asking my dad if the garden was “finished”, yet. It turns out a garden is never finished. It’s a constant process of staying vigilant, planning your moves and slogging away. Similarly, fifty years on, it...

Free at last... they all owe their lives to Amnesty . That is the headline of an article in the Observer describing how four political prisoners were released because of Amnesty International. One man was held for five years at...