The attention was great when it emerged earlier this week that human rights organizations call on all Olympic activists to avoid criticizing China.

Otherwise, they risk being prosecuted.

The organization Global Athletes' director general Rob Koehler develops the reasoning for TT:

- Those we have spoken to have received very clear advice: To basically be quiet, he says.

"An advice to the IOC"

Politiska protester är förbjudna vid medaljceremonier, enligt IOK:s regelverk. Dessutom måste värdlandets allmänna lagar följas, något som knappast ger utrymme för protester och allmänna åsiktsyttringar, konstaterar Rob Koehler.

– Om man tittar på Kinas lagar så existerar inte yttrandefrihet. Så det finns helt enkelt ingen möjlighet att yttra sig.

En representant för värdlandets organisationskommitté gick i veckan också ut och varnade aktiva som uttrycker sig negativt om den olympiska andan eller kinesiska lagar riskerar att straffas, rapporterar flera medier.

Hur påverkas då svenska aktiva som är vana vid yttrandefrihet?

Oklart – organisationen som utbildat den svenska OS-truppen på väg till Peking, vill inte säga vad utbildningen konkret faktiskt innehåller.

- What we are talking about is the general human rights situation in the country and also the situation for human rights defenders, says Gabrielle Gunneberg, who is global program manager at Civil Rights Defenders.

According to the organization, no instructions have been given to Swedish activists regarding how they should act on the ground in Beijing.

- We have no opinion on how the active should act.

What we think is that those who make decisions about where this type of event is located should avoid placing them in authoritarian states, Gunneberg says and continues:

- An advice to the IOC in this situation.

"Extremely sad"

An answer that is in line with Global Athlete's call.

For the thousands of active competitors, there is also only one piece of advice to give, according to Rob Koehler, who says that the organization is in contact with many athletes who have expressed concern ahead of their departure for the Winter Games.

- There is a concern regarding everything from freedom of expression to going to the Games, when the activists know what the human rights situation looks like in China - to the surveillance that they will be under when they are there.

Global Athletes has spoken to many activists about their concerns, according to Rob Koehler.

- But they really have no choice - either they compete or not.

There is an alternative: to back up and not go.

But if you trained for ten years, how could you do that?

It was in the summer of 2015 that the choice again fell on China as the host country - this time in a winter context.

Beijing, which hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, now won the vote against Almaty in Kazakhstan.

A choice that Global Athletes, an organization that wants to push for change, is very critical of.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is responsible - but does not take it.

Athletes are left in the lurch, according to Rob Koehler.

- It is extremely sad, and it is a situation that the IOC put the active in.

SEE ALSO: He is touring for the boycott of the Beijing Olympics

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He is touring for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics Photo: SVT

Peng Shuai an example

How will outspoken activists be protected?

Several organizations have asked the IOC to clarify how Chinese laws may be applied during the Winter Games, which start on February 4, but have not received a response.

TT: What could be the consequences for the activists who express their views in China?

- We do not know what can happen to the active.

So be pretty careful, surveillance is going on everywhere.

Compete, come home and talk later, says Rob Koehler, who draws a parallel to what happened to the Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai.

The former double world setter published a post on social media last autumn in which she accused China's former Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli of sexual abuse.

Shortly afterwards, the post was deleted - and then no one heard from her in 19 days.

What Peng Shuai's situation looks like in China now, no one really knows, Rob Koehler emphasizes.

- If they treat an athlete there in that way, it also shows how they can treat an asset that may speak out in China.

SEE ALSO: Samuelsson's critique: "They use our star shine"

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Sebastian Samuelsson is critical of the Beijing Olympics.

Photo: Bildbyrån / SVT