JK Rowling's charity Beira's Place threatens to sue Amnesty International over 'anti-rights' claims

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Amnesty International included Beira's Place in Edinburgh among more than 100 organisations which it described as being part of an "anti-rights" movement.

It has since said it regrets publishing the report and has temporarily removed it while an internal review is carried out.

Lawyers for Rowling's centre, which she founded in 2022, have threatened legal action unless Amnesty permanently removes the briefing.

Solicitors acting for Beira's Place said the report "erroneously and maliciously categorises our client as an 'anti-rights organisation'".

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The lawyers continued: "To suggest that our client, which supports some of the most vulnerable women in society, is "anti-rights", is "targeting the rights of women or LGBT+ people" or is seeking to "weaken existing human rights protections" is grossly offensive and entirely without foundation."

The letter adds: "Having access to a single sex support service is a basic right which any woman who has experience sexual violence should be entitled to.

"It is therefore beyond comprehension that a supposed human rights organisation would genuinely consider that the work done by Beira's Place could be classed as "anti-rights" or "targeting the rights of women".

It goes on to state that since the report's publication, Beira's Place had received "threatening and abusive" correspondence and a "600% spike in website visits from outside the remit of the service".

The letter demands the removal of the report and a public letter of apology from Amnesty.

Rowling established Beira's Place in 2022 after a row about the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre which had a transgender woman as its CEO at the time.

The centre, named after the Scottish goddess of winter, describes itself as a "single-sex, women-only" service for female survivors of sexual violence.

The Amnesty report - titled "A Growing Threat: The Anti-Rights Movement in the UK"- had said the UK was experiencing a “significant decline” in LGBT+ rights.

The report featured the campaign group For Women Scotland, which brought the legal challenge resulting in the UK Supreme Court ruling that "woman" only refers to biological sex under equalities law.

Amnesty International UK said: “We regret that this briefing was uploaded to our website without going through the established internal review processes that are in place to ensure consistency, accuracy and alignment with Amnesty International UK’s positions.

“Its use of language does not reflect the position of Amnesty International UK, which is why it was promptly removed. We remain committed to defending human rights, including both the rights of women and the rights of trans people.”