Hong Kong - Actress and human rights activist Mia Farrow is to speak in Hong Kong on the day the Olympic torch is carried through the former British colony, a news report said Saturday. The outspoken 63-year-old star will speak at a Foreign Correspondents' Club lunch on May 2 and will urge China to act on the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, the South China Morning Post reported.
Hong Kong will host the first torch relay on Chinese soil after its worldwide tour which has been marred by protests over Tibet.
Foreign Correspondents' Club president Christopher Slaughter told the newspaper the date for Farrow's speech was selected by the activist group Dream for Darfur, which she chairs.
It was "understandable" for the group to pick the date of the torch relay, Slaughter said, but he added: "I can't see how a luncheon speech can affect the (torch relay)."
A number of protest groups plan to highlight the unrest in Tibet during the Hong Kong torch relay, but a survey Friday suggested more than 93 per cent of Hong Kongers oppose anti-China protests.
Beijing has also drawn criticism for its continued investments in Sudan, despite the atrocities being committed in Darfur.
The city's Beijing-appointed Chief Executive Donald Tsang is expected to be the first of 120 torch-bearers to run in the 33- kilometre relay, which will be marshalled by 3,000 police.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" arrangement guaranteeing political freedoms and the right to protest.
