Human rights lawyers in Colombia live under constant threat of violence and death, according to campaign group Peace Brigades International. At an event at Middle Temple Hall, London, this week, artist Helen Chadwick and actors Joanna Foster, Stephanie Street, Samuel West, Juliet Stevenson and Zoe Wanamaker dramatised, with readings and role plays, the stories of some Colombian lawyers.

The president of the Association of Colombian Human Rights Lawyers Edwin Rubio told the Gazette this week that lawyers are now being branded criminals in his country. He said: ‘We are accused of corruption, theft and dishonest accounting - anything to distract the international community’s attention away from our human rights work and the real reason we are being harassed.’