Barristers from Doughty Street Chambers say the targeting began three years ago when they took on the case of jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and media mogul Jimmy Lai.

Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, who leads Mr Lai’s international legal team, said she had received threats of dismemberment, rape, and death via email and social media, with the harassment extending to her family.

“I had a threat to rape one of my children because of my work,” she said. “I don’t know if that’s just an individual or if that’s someone who’s state-linked. What I do know is that if you have a campaign which is led by state authorities to say this lawyer is not to be trusted and they’re undermining the Chinese state by engaging in legal work with the United Nations, it sends a green light to [its supporters] to send material like that.”

Ms Gallagher has been targeted by “hundreds” of attempts to hack her bank account, as well as “privilege phishing” attempts to obtain sensitive information. Fake emails have been sent in her name, including one claiming she had resigned due to safety concerns. “I woke up in a hotel room to a whole load of messages saying: ‘Are you OK? What can I do?’” she said.

Team members have also experienced WhatsApp calls that appear to come from colleagues but are not, and in March 2023, Gallagher and Jennifer Robinson were followed around the UN office in Geneva. In June 2023, barrister Tatyana Eatwell had her speech at the UN human rights council interrupted by a Chinese delegation when she mentioned Lai. “They accused us of being criminals … [it was] deeply intimidating,” Eatwell said.

Ms Gallagher noted that cyberattacks and other forms of harassment often coincided with key moments in the Lai case. “We think because of the coordination of the emails and the cyber-attacks and the fact that they coincide with key moments in the case, we’ve good reason to believe that they’re state linked.”

She described a single incident where there were 32 simultaneous attempts to hack her email account using VPNs from locations ranging from Delaware in the US to Kazakhstan and South Africa. Clerks and researchers – one of whom had their iPhone cloned – have also been targeted.

Speaking to Westminster’s Joint Committee on Human Rights last week, she warned that transnational repression and the targeting of lawyers is increasing.

“It is very difficult to deal with,” she said. “They are tactics which are designed to frighten us off doing our job or to make us worse at our jobs. And I think that’s why we’re redoubling our efforts. Because if they hate us – the lawyers – this much, think about how much they hate our client.”