From 20h ago No 10 director of strategy resigns over revelation about sexually explicit comments about Diane Abbott in private email in 2017 Keir Starmer has been hit by a fresh Downing Street resignation. Paul Ovenden has resigned as director of strategy at No 10 over revelations, first published by the Mail, that in 2017 he made sexually explicit comments about Diane Abbott in a private email. Ovenden was a Labour party press officer at the time. In his story for the Mail, Dan Hodges reports: The Mail understands that…
Tag: Protest
‘I don’t expect to live a normal life’: how a Leeds teenager woke up with a Chinese bounty on her head
It was Christmas Eve 2024 and 19-year-old Chloe Cheung was lying in bed at home in Leeds when she found out the Chinese authorities had put a bounty on her head. As she scrolled through Instagram looking at festive songs, a stream of messages from old school friends started coming into her phone. Look at the news, they told her. Media outlets across east Asia were reporting that Cheung, who had just finished her A-levels, had been declared a threat to national security by officials in Hong Kong. There was…
Hong Kong activists in Britain should be able to rely on police protection | Letter
The UK has become a hunting ground for authoritarian regimes targeting dissidents, journalists and students. It is appalling that Hong Kong activists who sought refuge here met fear, harassment and intimidation from the government they had escaped, only to receive inadequate protection and little coordinated response (Hong Kong democracy campaigner accuses UK police of asking her to ‘self-censor’, 1 August). Amnesty International has repeatedly documented the Chinese government’s transnational repression, including the surveillance and intimidation of students and activists here in the UK. This includes an alarming escalation in threats…
Örkesh Dölet descended on to Tiananmen Square with thousands of fellow student protesters. He’s now 36 years into exile | Nuria Khasim
When I was little, mum used to take us to visit an elderly Uyghur couple every year. We would climb up the winding concrete stairs in a Soviet-era apartment block and be greeted with a warmth that felt like family. Over piping hot bowls of Uyghur chay, mum would talk to them for hours while my brother and I listened. I always assumed they were relatives of ours, until mum told me that they were the parents of her friend Örkesh Dölet, and they had not seen their son for…
Threats, fear and surveillance: how China targets students in the UK who criticise regime
The first time Liying* realised she was being watched, she was on her way home from an anti-Beijing protest outside the Chinese embassy in London in 2022. The sky was dark, and Liying – a student in her 20s from China – was walking with a fellow protester, megaphone in hand, when she noticed a stranger lurking behind them. The pair quickened their pace but the man, who looked Chinese, kept following. Ten minutes passed; then 20. Eventually, they ran into a nearby hospital and hid for more than half…
Hong Kong’s ‘alarming’ national security law comes into force
Hong Kong’s new national security law came into force on Saturday, putting into immediate effect tough penalties of up to life imprisonment for crimes including treason and insurrection. The law – commonly referred to as article 23 – targets five categories of national security crimes, and was swiftly passed by Hong Kong’s opposition-free legislature on Tuesday. The US, the EU, Japan and Britain have been among the law’s strongest critics, with the UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, saying it would “further damage the rights and freedoms” of those in the…
Article 23: China hits back at criticism of Hong Kong’s hardline new security law
China has accused western governments and the United Nations of slander after they criticised Hong Kong’s new national security law, which was rushed through the city’s pro-Beijing parliament this week. The law, known as Article 23, covers newly defined acts of treason, espionage, theft of state secrets, sedition and foreign interference. Critics said it was ushering in a “new era of authoritarianism”, would further erode the rights and freedoms of residents, and would scare off international business and investment. US state department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Tuesday the…
Beijing accused of using spying, threats and blackmail against Tibetan exiles
Thousands of Tibetans around the world have been subjected to spying, blackmail and threats against family members still living in Tibet, according to a new report. The Chinese government’s repressive policies in Tibet continue to be documented, but the new report by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is the first to investigate the widespread targeting of exiles in countries including the US, India, France, Australia and Canada, researchers say. China increasingly aims to stifle debate or criticism from Tibetans, Hongkongers and Uyghurs outside its borders in…
Human rights in decline globally as leaders fail to uphold laws, report warns
Human rights across the world are in a parlous state as leaders shun their obligations to uphold international law, according to the annual report of Human Rights Watch (HRW). In its 2024 world report, HRW warns grimly of escalating human rights crises around the globe, with wartime atrocities increasing, suppression of human rights defenders on the rise, and universal human rights principles and laws being attacked and undermined by governments. The report highlights political leaders’ increasing disregard for international human rights laws. The report says “selective government outrage and transactional…
Courtroom drama is Hong Kong’s highest grossing Chinese-language film ever
Hong Kong’s highest grossing Chinese language film of all time is a Hong Kong-set courtroom drama exploring themes of power and justice in a city where many feel both have been abused in recent years. A Guilty Conscience, the directorial debut of the Hong Kong screenwriter Ng Wai-lun, tells the story of a single mother wrongly accused of murdering her daughter and the legal battle to clear her name. Released in January 2023, it earned HK$115m (£11.6m) at the Hong Kong box office last year, making it the highest grossing…