Disgruntled Google employees have published an open letter calling on the firm to cancel plans to build a censored search engine for China.

The letter, signed by nine current Google employees, accuses Google’s leadership of failing to respond to concerns “for months".

International human rights organisations and investigative reporters have also sounded the alarm, emphasizing serious human rights concerns and repeatedly calling on Google to cancel the project.

"So far," they added, "there have been no satisfactory answers from leadership."

It comes after leaked documents, obtained by The Intercept, revealed details of Google's plans for obtaining approval to operate in China, including blocking access to a number of websites, such as Wikipedia and BBC News, which the ruling communist party bans.