China deports 8 pro-Tibet activists

By Associated Press | via (uncensored) yahoo!news
09 August 2007

China deported a group of activists who hung a banner on the Great Wall calling for Tibetan independence ahead of celebrations marking one year until the Beijing Olympics, an activist group said Thursday.

The six members of Students for a Free Tibet arrived in Hong Kong on Wednesday following their two-day detention by Chinese authorities, said Kate Woznow, the group's campaign director. They were not physically mistreated during that time but were exhausted from repeated questioning, she said.

Three Americans were part of the group: Leslie Kaup of St. Paul, Minn., Nupur Modi of Oakland, Calif., and Duane Martinez of Sausalito, Calif.

On Tuesday, the group scaled down part of the Great Wall to unfurl a huge banner reading "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008."

Also deported to Hong Kong was Lhadon Tethong, the activist group's executive director, who had been in Beijing blogging about "China's Olympics-related propaganda," the group said in a statement. A British colleague was detained and deported as well.

"Even though she knew there was a likelihood she was going to be detained, it still seemed that what she was doing -- blogging -- isn't illegal. In most countries it wouldn't cause anyone to bat an eye," Woznow said in a telephone interview from Hong Kong.

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