Amnesty International Is Denied Lease in China-Owned NYC Building

A man stands in front of a tank outside Amnesty International's headquarters in London on June 3, 2008 to recreate the "tank man" image of a lone demonstrator facing down tanks at Tiananmen Square. The anniversary of the 1989 crackdown against pro-democracy protesters in Beijing is on June 4. Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images

NEW YORK—A giant shipping conglomerate owned by the Chinese regime has declined to lease space in a building it owns in New York City to the U.S. chapter of Amnesty International, an organization that’s been critical of China’s human rights abuses.

Amnesty International U.S.A. told The New York Times that just as it was about to sign a lease during the week of May 5 for office space in Wall Street Plaza, the building’s owner, Orient Overseas, said its new parent company, Cosco Shipping Holdings Co., put a stop to it.