Five Americans Detained After Everest Demonstration

Filed in archive Outdoor News on April 30, 2007

After holding a pro-Tibet demonstration, five Americans were detained by Chinese security guards. The Americans, Shannon Service, Laurel Mac Sutherlin, Kirsten Westby, Jeff Friesen, and Tenzin Dorjeesaid, were members of the free tibet who support Tibet's independence from China. And while they were detained, they feared for their life.

"The entire thing was fairly traumatic ... not sleeping for over 30 hours, being denied food and water for over 14, basically being psychologically terrorized," Service said Saturday in Katmandu.

Four of the activists were detained on Wednesday morning as they opened their banners outside a tent belonging to a Chinese mountaineering team, which had been preparing for an expedition that will take the Olympic torch to the summit of the world's highest mountain.

The fifth person, Friesen, was able to run away and transmit video of the protest before being captured the next day.

Police and soldiers interrogated the activists for 12 hours at the Everest base camp before transporting them 14 hours to the town of Shigatse, Service said.

It was during this time they faced the trauma, questioning and uncertainty, Service said.

During the interrogation, Service said a Chinese guard threatened her, saying: "If you don't tell the truth, you will sleep in this room and harm will come to you."

"I asked her if she threatened me; she nodded yes," Service said. "I became very afraid for my own safety and the safety of my friends."

Read the rest of the story here.