Tibet Olympic protesters "intimidated" in detention

KATHMANDU, Apr 28 (Reuters) Five Americans detained and deported by China for demonstrating for a free Tibet and protesting against the 2008 Beijing Olympics at the base of Mount Everest said today they feared for their safety while in custody.

The five, including a Tibetan-American, were detained on the Tibetan side of the world's highest peak which is being used by a Chinese team doing trial runs to take the Olympic torch up the mountain.

The Americans, who arrived in the Nepali capital late on Friday after being detained by the Chinese for more than two days, said the guards detained them in freezing conditions, initially without food or drink.

''We were really scared, concerned and intimidated,'' Kirsten Westby, a human rights activist from Boulder, Colorado, told reporters in Kathmandu.

Another member of the group, Shannon Service, said she was told that she had to sleep on a concrete floor in a freezing cold room.

One guard pointed fingers in the shape of a gun to her head.

''These things made me afraid for my own physical safety and the safety of my friends,'' Service said.

They said they were quizzed separately and asked the same questions repeatedly.

''It was a perfect, crazy Chinese interrogation,'' said Tenzin Dorjee, the Tibetan American.

''They asked us 'who did you talk to in Tibet, where did you stay and eat', basically they were trying to find out the local Tibetans who came in touch with us,'' Dorjee, wearing a Tibetan prayer scarf, said.

A Chinese embassy official in Kathmandu said he had no knowledge of the accusations and would not make a comment.

The five Americans were detained after they had unfurled a banner reading ''One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008'' in English, and one in Tibetan and Chinese saying ''Free Tibet''.

''One World, one Dream'' is the motto for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Beijing has ruled Tibet since People's Liberation Army troops occupied the region in 1950 and has vowed to bring economic prosperity to the poor Himalayan region.

REUTERS SM BD1623