Farrow in Hong Kong to speak during torch relay

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Actress Mia Farrow and a Darfur activist were allowed into Hong Kong on Thursday to give a speech criticizing China's ties with Sudan, after flying in from New York.

"We had no idea what would happen ... we thought it was entirely likely that we'd arrive at the airport and be put on a plane going back to where we came from," said Jill Savitt, executive director of Dream for Darfur, a New York based advocacy group who traveled with Farrow to Hong Kong.

But she said Farrow and herself were "graciously welcomed" in the end, after immigration officials explained that any disruptions to the torch relay would be unwelcome.

Farrow's speech to the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club takes place at the same time the city will be hosting the Olympic torch.

Although it has been part of China since 1997, Hong Kong does have more autonomy and civil liberties than people in the rest of China, including the right to protest. But it has been seen to be under pressure from Beijing to minimize any trouble during the torch's eight-hour trek through the former British colony.

TIBETAN TORCH TREK

Three Tibetan activists barred from traveling to Hong Kong warned in a live webcast on Thursday the Olympic flame's trek through Tibet would escalate tensions and spark protests.

Hong Kong authorities deported a half-dozen activists this week ahead of Friday's relay, which follows a tumultuous five-continent tour that was dogged by protests over China's crackdown on rioting Tibetans in March.

Rights activists say the deportations have damaged Hong Kong's reputation as a free and open territory of China.

The three activists and other members of their groups, who took part in the webcast from locations in Canada, England and the United States, warned that running a special flame up Mount Everest and then the main torch through Tibet in June was a "blatant provocation" and would escalate tensions on the ground.

"Tibetans will do everything in their power to protest during the torch relay," said Lhadon Tethong, the executive director of Students for a Free Tibet.

"Clearly the Olympic torch relay is already resulting in more repression inside Tibet and increasing the climate of fear that Tibetans were already being subjected to," she added.

The three activists decided to stage a news conference by webcast "because we simply cannot allow ourselves to be silenced", said Tsering Lama with the group Students for a Free Tibet, which broadcasts live from Toronto.

(Reporting by James Pomfret; Editing by Bill Tarrant and John Chalmers)