Brian Conley detained along with activists in Beijing
By Tim.Brian Conley, a good friend of Next New Networks and creator of the web series Alive in Baghdad, and who produced a series for us on Veracifier, was detained Tuesday morning in Beijing, where he was filming a protest by Students for a Free Tibet, along with several protesters and activists. Another person I know, James Powderly of Eyebeam’s Grafitti Research Lab, was also detained at the time.
Brian, a very recent newlywed, sent a text message to his wife that they were in jail and “all fine,” but much more information has not been available. Previous people detained for exercising rights they don’t have in China were quickly deported, but right now friends of Brian are anxiously awaiting news of his release.
We’re of course worried about Brian, who’s incredibly brave and uncompromising in his work trying to give a voice to people in impossible political situations — but also, if there’s anyone who can get through a fix like this with calm and a level head, it’s him, so I’m hopeful. We’ll keep everyone posted here if there’s anything they can do — but in the meantime Brian’s many friends are blogging the news and getting the word out, and if you have friends in the State Department or with some pull (like a congressperson), please make sure they know about it.
Here’s video of the protest and the arrests from Students for a Free Tibet, via our friends at Moblogic.
August 21st, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Very sorry to hear that. I met a bunch of the Alive at Baghdad folks at the Webbys and thought highly of them all. Here’s hoping all works out and everyone returns safely and quickly.
August 25th, 2008 at 10:35 am
[…] us all yesterday with the happy news that our friend Brian Conley and seven other US citizens who were detained in Beijing last Tuesday have been released and were being deported back to the US, to arrive in Los Angeles this […]