U.N. human rights investigators demanded an end to a Chinese crackdown on lawyers on Thursday after more than 100 people were detained, intimidated or went missing over the past week.
The five independent experts said the crackdown may have broken the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, the U.N. Basic Principles of the Role of Lawyers and China's own criminal procedures.
"Lawyers should never have to suffer prosecution or any other kind of sanctions or intimidation for discharging their professional duties," they said in a statement issued by the U.N. human rights office.