Attacking JK Rowling makes Amnesty International just as bad as the rotten regimes it used to fight

WHEN I was growing up in the 1980s, Amnesty International’s emblem of a candle burning inside a coil of barbed wire said it all. The charity stood out like a beacon in a world riddled with malignant dictators and military juntas. Amnesty has emulated the rotten regimes it once campaigned against JK Rowling has bravely pushed back against militant trans campaigners, and has now described the charity as ‘a tyrant’ Credit: Samir Hussein/WireImage It never had the direct power to topple an authoritarian government, of course, but its stringent letter-writing campaigns were a constant reminder to world leaders: if you abuse your citizens’ human rights you will never belong in the civilized world. Who could have imagined that 40 years later Amnesty would come to emulate some of the rotten regimes it once campaigned against. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Last month, it published an astonishing attack on 117 organisations which it claimed form a growing ‘anti-rights movement in the UK’. Nearly half of them on its blacklist were charities and other bodies condemned for possessing ‘gender-critical’ views. It even called on the Charity Commission to remove their charitable status. If you are not familiar with the language used by left-wing activists, being ‘gender-critical’ means you believe that biological sex actually means something, and that men should not be allowed to access women-only spaces just because they feel they are female. Amnesty International might like to think this is an unacceptable, fringe opinion, but others might call it plain common sense. It is, after all, scientific fact that humans are divided into two biological sexes, defined by our chromosomes, not just our inner feelings. Moreover, the majority of the British public believe that society should recognise this truth. In a YouGov poll in January 2025 74 percent said they opposed trans women from taking part in women’s-only sports events while only 11 percent were in favour. It is also the law of the land. Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that when equality legislation refers to ‘women’ it means biological women. Thus a male rapist cannot claim the right to be placed in a women’s prison, for example. Most read in The Sun Fortunately, the silent majority have a champion when it comes to resisting the extreme ideology of noisy trans activists. Over the past few years Harry Potter author JK Rowling has pushed back bravely against militant trans campaigners and defended the right of women to have their own, protected spaces. She has a personal reason for doing so, having suffered abuse during her first marriage. A Edinburgh-based charity she founded for women who are victims of sexual violence, Beira’s Place, was one of those organisations which appeared on Amnesty’s blacklist. Or at least it was until Rowling threatened to take legal action. Not only that, she invited other organisations which appeared on the list to apply for financial support if they, too, wanted to challenge Amnesty’s description of them. Amnesty has lost the support of Iseult White, granddaughter of Sean MacBride, who was one of the charity’s co-founders in 1961 Credit: Unknown Iseult said that her grandfather, above, would be ‘appalled’ by what Amnesty has become Credit: Alamy Stock Photo She described Amnesty as having become “a tyrant that persecutes those who don’t espouse what it decrees acceptable beliefs”. Once Amnesty realised the possible consequences for its fundraising efforts, it rapidly withdrew its report, claiming that it was published by mistake before it had gone through its internal review process. However, its website still carries a similar, earlier attack on pro-life campaigning groups. In Amnesty International’s warped worldview it is apparently unacceptable to believe in any restriction on abortion rights, even though a quarter of the UK public, according to a YouGov poll, believe that the current 24 week limit for abortion is too high and should perhaps be reduced to 12 weeks, as is common in many countries. Amnesty also raised hackles by rushing out a report in December 2024 accusing Israel of ‘genocide’ in Gaza, while failing properly to condemn Hamas for the murderous attacks which had sparked Israel’s reaction. Hamas-run Gaza was the sort of brutal regime which Amnesty would once have condemned, so why does it find to so hard to do so now? The charity has already lost some of its most staunch supporters. Back in the 1980s, Monty Python star John Cleese helped organise the Secret Policeman’s Ball: an annual comedy show which raised money for Amnesty International, which at that time was engaged in fighting torture. More recently, Cleese has said: “I renounce the mob who have taken over Amnesty.” The charity has also lost the support of Iseult White, granddaughter of Sean MacBride, the former Irish Foreign Affairs minister who was one of Amnesty’s co-founders in 1961. She said last month that her grandfather would be ‘appalled’ by what Amnesty has become, saying “they want to go against the laws of the UK – a western democracy. “They are now acting like the types of authoritarian regimes that they have always sought to expose.” The decline of Amnesty is so sad to watch because the world is still riddled with regimes which torture and imprison their opponents. We need an organisation which brings to public attention what is going on in countries where political dissidents are routinely ‘disappeared’. In allowing itself to be captured by extreme trans activists Amnesty has relinquished that role. We must now look to, and give our money to, other campaigning groups which are prepared to focus on the world’s real human rights abuses. Comment now