A History of Detainment in 2008 Olympics

(in reversed chronological order)

• Alive in Bagdad, Detained in Beijing

Brian Conley, creator of the well-known videoblog, Alive in Baghdad, was detained with his friend, Jeffrey Rae, early Tuesday, August 19th in Beijing. Their detention appears to have taken place at the same time as that of international artist James Powderly, whose detention was reported Tuesday. Three other bloggers and activists, Jeff Goldin, Michael Liss, and Tom Grant, have also been missing since Tuesday morning. Conley, 28, Rae, 28, Goldin, 40, Liss, 35, Grant, 39 are all American citizens.

The five "citizen journalists" and activists were in Beijing to support and promote human rights, freedom of expression, and freedom for the Tibetan people. They and numerous others have acted as an independent media centre for the dozens of pro-Tibet activists in Beijing who have sought to draw attention to the Chinese government's occupation of Tibet during the Olympics. Rae and Conley shot and released online high-resolution photographs and footage of the recent protest by Students for a Free Tibet supporters at the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park.

Beijing: Citizen Journalists, Videoblogger, Activists Detained (SFT)
* Video of the Free Tibet protest causing the detainment of 6 Americans:http://www.vimeo.com/1560444?pg=embed&sec=1560444

• Two elderly Chinese women detained

(AP Aug 20, 5:56 PM EDT) Two elderly Chinese women who applied to hold a protest during the Olympics were ordered to spend a year in a labor camp, a relative said Wednesday. The women were still at home three days after being officially notified they would have to serve a yearlong term of reeducation through labor, but were under surveillance by a government-backed neighborhood group, said Li Xuehui, the son of one of the women.

Li said no cause was given for the order to imprison his 79-year-old mother, Wu Dianyuan, and her neighbor Wang Xiuying, 77.

"Wang Xiuying is almost blind and disabled. What sort of re-education through labor can she serve?" Li said in a telephone interview. "But they can also be taken away at any time."

• Four activists detained- whose whereabouts were not known - were identified by Students for a Free Tibet as Tibetan-German Florien Norbu Gyanatshang, 30; Mandie McKeown, 41, of Britain; and Americans Jeremy Wells, 38 and John Watterberg, 30.

• (CNN) A British journalist, John Ray of ITN, and eight Tibet activists were detained during a protest near an Olympic venue on Aug. 13th, the journalist and an activist group said. Lhadon Tethong, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, said that since the Summer Olympic Games started, 36 demonstrators with Students for a Free Tibet have been detained, including the eight who were detained Wednesday. The other 28 protesters were deported after being held for a maximum of 30 hours.

• Noel Hidalgo, New York citizen journalist, detained and then deported for filming a pro-Tibet protest in Tian'anmen
  

• (HRW) Chinese activist Ji Sizun was taken away by security agents after applying for permission to protest against corruption during the Olympics. Ji wanted to use one of three protest zones Beijing has designated for the games to call for "greater participation of Chinese citizens in the political processes, and denounce rampant official corruption and abuses of power," Human Rights Watch said in a statement. He applied at the Deshengmenwai police station on Aug. 8, the day the Olympics began, it said. When he returned three days later to check on his application, witnesses saw Ji being escorted from the building and put into an unmarked car by several men.

• Dr. Ge Yifei, a 48-year-old doctor from Suzhou, was detained in Beijing by Suzhou government officials who had followed her to the capital, where she was attempting to apply for permission to protest about a property dispute in her home town. The officials held Ge for several hours and then forcibly escorted her back to Suzhou.
  

• Police at Beijing's Haidian district police station refused to accept an application by Zhang Wei in late July to protest over the demolition of her home for Olympics-related development. On August 12, Zhang's son Mi Yu told the Associated Press that the district court had sentenced Zhang to a month in prison for "disturbing social order" in connection with a small protest Zhang took part in last week in Beijing's Qianmen district with around 20 of her former neighbors.
  

• Representatives of parents wanting to protest in Beijing about the deaths of their children in the May 12 Sichuan earthquake were intercepted at Chengdu airport by police who "tore up their (airline) tickets," the Washington Post reported on August 6.
  

• Beijing police arrested Tang Xuecheng in early August when he applied for permission to protest local corruption in his native Hunan province, The Australian newspaper reported on August 12.

• On August 10, underground Christian activist Hua Huiqi and his brother Hua Huilin were intercepted and detained by state security agents. The two men were cycling to Beijing's Kuan Jie Protestant Church, where US President George W. Bush was scheduled to attend a Sunday church service. Hua Huilin was released several hours later and Hua Huiqi reportedly escaped police custody after his police captors fell asleep. Hua Huilin has told foreign journalists that Beijing Public Security Bureau officials have confirmed to him in at least two phone calls that Hua Huiqi has escaped and remains at large. According to information received by Human Rights in China, an overseas monitoring group, Hua Huiqi is currently in hiding and fears police reprisals if he returns home. Hua Huiqi is a veteran underground church activist who was first arrested in June 1994 for worshipping in churches not sanctioned by the state.
  

• On August 7, Zeng Jinyan, the wife of a high-profile human rights activist, ceased to communicate with friends and relatives. Her husband, Hu Jia, was jailed for three and a half years on April 3 on charges of "inciting subversion against the state." Zeng had not indicated any intention to suspend communications, but had earlier told friends that police had told her to leave Beijing ahead of the Olympic Games inauguration on August 8. Those individuals believe she has been detained by police for the duration of the games.

* Beijing announced last month that it would allow protests in three parks far from the Olympic venues during the games but they had to be approved in advance. Of the some 77 applications lodged so far, none have been approved, and rights groups have called the zones a charade.

* Giselle Davies, spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee, said past Olympic hosts have designated protest areas and that the body hoped Beijing would stick to its promise of allowing demonstrations.

* Sophie Richardson, Human Rights Watch, advocacy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division and oversees the organization's work on China