JK Rowling’s rape support centre says it has been bombarded with threats and abuse and is considering legal action after it was dubbed ‘anti-rights’ in a report by Amnesty International UK.

Beira’s Place, the women-only support service founded by the Harry Potter author, claims the briefing has caused ‘extremely serious’ damage to the service, its staff and the women who rely on it.

It is now considering taking legal steps over the now withdrawn report unless Amnesty apologises and takes a series of steps to address the fallout.

In a lawyer’s letter made public by Ms Rowling, the Edinburgh-based centre said it had received threatening and abusive correspondence since the report was published on July 8, while website visits from outside its catchment area had surged by 600 per cent.

The report, which also labelled campaign group For Women Scotland as ‘anti-rights’, was widely shared online before Amnesty removed it.

Beira’s Place says the allegation was ‘grossly offensive and entirely without foundation’ and has demanded a public apology and an independent investigation into how the report came to be published.

Beira’s Place has demanded a public apology from Amnesty

Beira’s Place of Beira’s Place board of directors (left to right) Susan Smith, JK Rowling, Johann Lamont, Margaret McCartney and Rhona Hotchkiss

The lawyer’s letter states: ‘The damage which the report has caused to Beira’s Place, the staff who work there and the women who seek support is extremely serious.

‘Since publication of the report on July 8 Beira’s Place has received threatening and abusive correspondence and a 600 per cent spike in website visits from outside the remit of the service.’

The legal document, made public by Ms Rowling, said the rape support centre had to ‘undertake extra administrative and digital measures and provide staffing support to mitigate for this disruption to their service’.

And lawyers warned: ‘There is grave risk that publication of the report, which contains such egregious falsehoods will cause some women who would otherwise have sought help from Beira’s Place to self exclude.

‘The report has wrongly labelled all associated with Beira’s Place, including those accessing support, as anti-rights bigots who are seeking to weaken human rights.

‘This is a shocking way to describe those who are seeking help to overcome the trauma of sexual violence.

‘There is no basis for these allegations and our client, with the support of its founder JK Rowling, will not sit back and allow the reputation of Beira’s Place or those who access its support to be tarnished in this way.’

Ms Rowling, who has previously spoken about being a victim of domestic abuse, set up Beira’s Place in 2022 amid a row over the management of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre which was run by transgender chief executive Mridul Wadhwa.

JK Rowling shared the lawyer’s letter on social media

Amnesty International has so expressed its ‘regret’ over the briefing

To avoid a legal case being brought against them lawyers said Amnesty would need to permanently withdraw the report and issue a public apology to the centre and all who have ‘been wrongly defamed by Amnesty for simply upholding the protected belief that sex is real, immutable and important in many areas of life’.

They also demanded the charity commission an external investigation into how an ‘official report published in Amnesty’s name could contain such egregious falsehoods’.

The legal letter said if Amnesty was not willing to agree, Beira’s Place ‘will instruct counsel to commence preparation for court action’, and warned the organisation not to destroy any materials.

Ms Rowling said she would be making a complaint to the Charity Commission, and has vowed to bankroll others who want to take legal action against the organisation.

An Amnesty International UK spokesman 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.

‘Human rights protections are strongest when they apply equally to everyone, and no community should be singled out for unfair treatment or denied their dignity and rights.’