China is hardening against dissent, rights groups say as they mark International Human Rights Day

When her husband fled China in 2019 to escape a police crackdown on dissidents, Lu Lina thought she and their young son could soon join him in safety abroad.

She did not know that she would be forced to move house, that her 8-year-old son would be effectively kicked out of school and that border police would block her from leaving the country over the next three years. In the end, the couple had to resort to filing for divorce in China to get around the exit ban.

“After my husband left, police gave our lives so much trouble,”, where the family eventually reunited and settled late last year. “Every time the border guards would stop me, take away my phone, my wallet and all my things. They gave no explanation.”