Athletes travelling to next month’s Beijing Olympics were warned on Tuesday about speaking up on human rights issues while in China for their own safety by speakers at a seminar hosted by Human Rights Watch.
Summary
- REUTERS/Pawel Kopczynski/File PhotoJan 18 (Reuters) - Athletes travelling to next month’s Beijing Olympics were warned on Tuesday about speaking up on human rights issues while in China for their own safety by speakers at a seminar hosted by Human Rights Watch.
- China denies the allegations of human rights abuses.
- “Chinese laws are very vague on the crimes that can be used to prosecute people’s free speech,” Human Rights Watch researcher Yaqiu Wang said.
- Noah Hoffman, a cross-country skier who represented the U.S. at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Games, said the American team was being shielded from questions about human rights.
- Several countries including the United States, Britain, Japan and Australia have announced diplomatic boycotts of the Games over concerns about human rights in China.