[JURIST] Chinese Human Rights Defenders [advocacy website] Friday criticized the Chinese government for continuing to persecute and intimidate human rights defenders such as lawyers, academics and journalists in a report [Part 1; Parts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] issued on the anniversary of the 1919 May Fourth Movement [Wikipedia backgrounder]. The report, the group's second annual, lists several activists who have been imprisoned or otherwise prosecuted for their efforts defending human rights [JURIST news archive], while also maintaining that there are a growing number of human rights defenders in China. AFP has more.

In related news, Amnesty International [advocacy website] released a report [text] earlier this week claiming China is not doing enough to remedy human rights abuses [JURIST report; press release] in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics [official website] in Beijing.