(2008-08-20) Pro Tibet American Held In China

A number of Americans involved in pro-TibEt demonstrations have been detained in China during the Olympics. One is James Powderly of Graffiti Research Lab, who was operating a laser-driven sign system.

Another was "AliveInBaghdad" video-blogger Brian Conley, who was documenting the event.

Before we all get self-righteous, might the same thing have happened if it were near the 2004 Republican National Convention In Nyc outside one of Mike Bloomberg's Free Speech Zone-s? Plenty of Censorship here in the US, sadly.

Aug22: they're being detained for 10 days.

Aug27: they were released after half that time, once the Olympics were over. The Chinese government had set up special zones for people who wanted to demonstrate during the Olympics, but no one had his or her applications approved. Two Chinese women in their late 70s were sentenced to a year of "reeducation through labor" for applying too many times... But after a 22-hour on-and-off interrogation, he (Conley) was taken to jail far from the middle of Beijing and given a prison uniform... He was interrogated several more times. He and the others were accused of having fake visas and promoting public disorder. For that they were sentenced to 10 days of detention.

• More background on Powderly.