Eight years ago, Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Liu Fenghou and her husband, Mr. Zhao Chuanwen from Shandong Province were arrested. Mengyin County 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) agents sentenced Mr. Zhao to thirteen years of imprisonment. He is still incarcerated at the Shandong Province Prison. Ms. Liu was subjected to three years of forced labour and has lived a very difficult life since her release in 2005.

On May 13th, 2009, two lawyers from Beijing, were hired by the family of Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Jiang Xiqing, to investigate his death at Xishanping Forced Labour Camp. The police arrested and beat both of them once they arrived in Chongqing. On May 14th, over ten police officers tried to break into the home of 70-year-old retired Professor Zhang Yougao. They asked him whether he was involved in hiring the lawyers from Beijing. Mr. Zhang refused to answer, so the police then tried to break into his home. Since that day, the police have hung around his home and watched him every day.

Ms. Chen Qinfang went shopping at a market in Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province on November 1st, 2009. She was suddenly abducted and taken to Kunshan Cao'An Police Station. After the subsequent ransacking of her home, her family did not hear from her again. After Ms. Chen was arrested, personnel from the police station never told her family where she was being detained. She didn't even have a change of clothing. In the chilly weather of early November, her family wanted to send her some warm clothing, but they didn't know where she was being held. Ms. Chen's family received no notice until the night of November 24th when they got a call. The police told them to go to Kunshan Detention Centre the next day. Only then did her family know that Ms. Chen had been secretly sentenced to a one-year forced labour term. She refused to give up her belief.

Ms. Liu Hefang was detained in a dark room at the Chongqing City Women's Forced Labour Camp for more than three months. She was physically tortured, and with her hands handcuffed behind her back, she was hung up. She was force fed with poison which made her senseless. She became emaciated very quickly, could not open her eyes, and was beaten until her legs were broken. Two strong, tall inmates who monitored her around the clock lifted her up by shoulders and dragged her out during visiting hours. Her family members tried to talk to her and awaken her but she didn't raise her head or speak at all. She was unconscious during the whole visit and her family was dumbfounded, angry and broke down in tears

Forced to live away from home for several years, Ms. Yang Chunxiu was arrested between December 25th and 30th, 2009. Not until shortly before the New Year did police officers go to her relatives to take down a written statement. Her family knew that she had been arrested. The New Year came, but the family couldn't have a get-together and were miserable. Previously, in Beijing Women's Forced Labour Camp guards tried to make her give up her faith in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. They used different tactics, including forcing her to stand perfectly still; depriving her of sleep, toilet use, and taking a bath; have a group of people attack her; injecting her with harmful drugs; and forbidding her family members from visiting her.

On December 2nd, 2009, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Li Lanying was sentenced to a four-year prison term by the Shuangcheng People's Court, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. Ms. Li and her husband Mr. Gao Guang'en were persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which made people in Shuangcheng angry at the local government. More than four hundred people stood up and called for the unconditional release of Ms. Li. At the end of December 2009, Ms. Li's family appealed to Harbin Intermediate People's Court.

From the summer of 2007 to July 2008, more than one hundred practitioners from Beijing were sent to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. Ms. Zou Shuqin, in her 50's, was one of them. Her original sentence had expired in Beijing, but because of the Beijing Olympics, five practitioners were transferred to Masanjia and forced to serve another six months. In 2008, whilst in Masanjia, Ms. Zou had shouted "Falun Gong is good" in the dining hall and was quickly dragged out. She was taken to the fourth floor, where she was shocked with electric batons, brutally beaten and kicked. Ms. Zou was hung up off the ground for a long period of time before being taken back to her cell. At about 11 p.m. that evening, Ms. Zou had a severe headache and started to vomit. She was then sent to the clinic.

When Ms. Kang Ruiqi was sent to the Zhuzhou City Baimalong Forced Labour Camp in 2008, she was a healthy woman. A former inmate from Baimalong Forced Labour Camp said she witnessed drug offenders brutally beating Ms. Kang in July 2008. They viciously hit her head against the wall and a metal bar. She was also deprived of sleep for long periods of time One year later, by the time she was released from the labour camp, she was mentally injured. Although her family didn't dare to seek justice from the authorities, they privately said it was mistreatment in the forced labour camp that caused her to have the mental collapse.

Since July 1999, Zuoqi-Balin police and officials of its Justice Department have twice detained Wang Xiaoyan in a forced labour camp, ransacked her home many times, extorted money from her husband, and harassed and persecuted her husband and son. While in the labour camp, a uterine tumour reappeared, causing heavy bleeding, and making her physically weak. Although she was physically weak, she was still forced to do labour. She had to stand more than 10 hours a day at a knitting machine to make gloves. Her uterine tumour started bleeding more heavily. To make matters worse, she was only allowed to use the toilet twice a day, morning and afternoon.

Mr. Wang Qiming, 69 , was arrested by police, and all kinds of barbaric torture was inflicted upon him at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. Wang Qimin describes his experience: "We were forced to sit on board, watch fake news and slanderous videos made by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and answer endless questions every day. The practitioners who refused to be "transformed" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] were punished by having to stand against the wall. You could not close your eyes, and your nose had to touch the wall. There were people watching you all the time, and they kept extending the duration of the punishment. If a practitioner still refused to be "transformed," he would be taken to a special room to be tortured by the "Stretching Bed" method."

The Qufu Criminal Court, along with the Prosecution Office of the Procuratorate and the Qufu Police Department's 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) sentenced Mr. Zhao Genfa to five years in prison on the afternoon of January 18th, 2010. Mr. Zhao's family and defence attorney were not present in the courtroom. Insiders revealed that the Qufu City 610 Office and the Political and Judiciary Committee had controlled the entire process.

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Xu Dawei was persecuted in four prisons in eight years since 2001. In the last prison--Dongling Prison in Shenyan City--she was so severely tortured that her health was completely ruined: she was abnormally skinny, suffered from a mental disorder, and was unable to eat. She passed away two weeks after returning home on September 26th, 2009.

Ms. Zhou Wenfang was a Falun Gong practitioner from Baoding City, Hebei Province. All of her illnesses disappeared after she began practising Falun Gong. In 2009, unable to endure the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution of her and her loved ones, she died of grief. When she was in critical condition, she requested that the forced labour camp in Baoding allow her to see her son one last time. Her request was denied.

Mr. Liu Ruisheng went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong in 2000, and he was picked up by police and taken to the Liaoyuan City Detention Centre. Mr. Liu was sentenced to 15 months of forced labour, which he served in the Baiquan Forced Labour Camp in Liaoyuan City. His employer was forced to dismiss him from his job, leaving him with no income. His wife was also forced to divorce him under huge pressure. In the labour camp, Liu Ruisheng was shocked with electric batons many times and locked in a metal cage. In April 2003, Mr. Liu was arrested again and sentenced to three years of forced labour. Over the years his health deteriorated due to persecution and Mr. Liu died on January 3rd, 2010.

Laozhan Police Station agents in Tonghua City, Jilin Province arrested Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Wang Dianren on February 5th, 2005. He was harassed, beaten, and bruised, and sustained frostbite as well as injuries from electric shocks and being scalded with hot water. Persecutors then sent him to the Changliu Detention Centre where guards frequently beat him. He was subsequently incarcerated at Shiling Prison in Siping, Jilin Province on August 9th, 2005. He died six days later as a result of torture.

On December 26th, 2009, police surrounded Mr. Qi Guangfa's home, jumped over the yard wall, smashed the kitchen window and forcibly broke into his house. At that time, Mr. Qi was in his mother's room taking care of her. His mother, who is about 80 years old, lay paralysed in her bed. When she heard the window being smashed, she held onto her son, but the officers forcibly dragged Mr. Qi onto the floor. Mr. Qi's mother cried and begged them not to beat her son. The police said: "Even if you die today, we will take your son away. We don't care." Mr. Qi was taken to the Linghai Police Department and later a detention centre.

On March 13th, 2007, Mr. Wu Daxing, a practitioner from Shenyang City, was arrested by police. They ransacked his home and confiscated his personal belongings worth in total over ten thousand yuan. He was taken to and interrogated at the Tiexi District Qinggong Police Station. Li Zheng and other officers kicked Mr. Wu in the groin area, causing severe bruising. Mr. Wu could not move without pain for two months. They whipped Mr. Wu in the head with leather belts, punched him in the face, pushed him to the ground, and shocked his hands and feet with electric batons until after midnight. Later he was transferred to the Shenyang City Detention Centre and sentenced to three years in prison.

Because of her belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, a young female teacher was arrested in November 1999 and is serving a prison sentence of 13 years. Her husband became homeless and destitute after serving four years in prison and her mother has been in a forced labour camp for two years. Her brother and sister-in-law have been sentenced to two and a half years and two years of forced labour respectively.

Police officers arrested Ms. Zhou Huifang in August 2009. They ransacked her home and held her at the Hailin City Detention Centre. Hailin City officials framed Ms. Zhou and scheduled to sentence her on January 19th, 2010. Ms. Zhou's husband Mr. Huo Jiuxia went to the police station that afternoon and requested his wife's release. The police demanded that Huo Jiuxian's son and daughter-in-law take him home. The next day, Huo Jiuxian went to the police station again, wearing a vest bearing the words "Down with the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] bandits. Long live freedom!" The police videotaped him and forcibly ordered his son to take him home again.

On January 13th, 2010, Ms. Lai Jinming, a practitioner from Changsha City, was apprehended by local police officers, sentenced to one year of forced labour, and taken to the Zhuzhou City's Baimalong Forced Labour Camp. This is the third time Ms. Lai has been incarcerated in a forced labour camp. Her family members are grief-stricken after receiving the news of her sentence. She had been detained for 15 days, and January the 13th was supposed to have been the date of her release. That morning, three police officers apprehended Ms. Lai and prolonged her detainment.

On April 12th, 2009, more than a dozen officers from the Tonghua City Domestic Security Division jumped over a brick fence into Mr. Yu Lianhe's home and arrested him. The Tonghua City Court sentenced him to three years in prison on September 17th, and took him to the Shiling Prison in Siping City, on October 2nd. Mr. Yu was beaten to death in custody on November 22nd, 2009. The autopsy found Mr. Yu had blood in his right ear and his two eyes were covered with purple bruises indicating he was beaten. His body seemed to have no external injuries when examined from outside, but there were more than one and a half litres of blood in his chest cavity, and his spleen had three tears resulting from a beating.

On April 11th, 2009, my older brother, Mr. Luo Jinji, died as a result of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. He was only fifty-four years old. He suffered from the CCP deceiving and persecuting him his entire life. The CCP imprisoned him in a brainwashing centre three times. My brother was an upright and honest man. Every time he spoke the truth, which did not align with the CCP's lies and views, he was physically tortured.

Mr. Zhao Xihua, a Falun Gong practitioner, used to work at the Tangshan Iron & Steel Company in Hebei Province. He was sent to brainwashing centres five times for his belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and carried on hunger strikes to the point of being hospitalised five times. In addition, he was twice sent to a mental hospital. While detained, regime personnel used all kinds of persecution methods trying to make him give up his belief. His employer fired him for his belief the end of 2003.

Ms. Yang Lijun, 64 years old, is a paediatrician. She is not only a good doctor, but also known by friends and neighbours to be a very nice person. In the past ten years, Ms. Yang and her relatives have suffered many instances of severe persecution for practising Falun Gong. Around the time of the New Year of 2010, Cao Ning, a procurator of Bayuquan District Procuratorate, called her and demanded that she come to the Bayuquan District Procuratorate to verify information for them. On the phone, he said they would not arrest her, but that he just wanted to verify her information. Later a relative of Yang Lijun went to the Procuratorate to find out more. The procurator said he would send police to arrest her if she did not come to the Procuratorate.

Ms. Wang Aifang, her daughter, son, and daughter-in-law have been frequently detained, imprisoned, and brutally tortured since 2002. Ms. Wang, in her late 60's, was imprisoned in the Harbin City Women's Prison. Ms. Zhang Xiuying, daughter-in-law of Ms. Wang, was also held in the Harbin City Women's Prison's and was brutally tortured. After she was beaten, her eyes were swollen for a month. She was forced to sit for extended periods on a small stool and stay outside in freezing cold temperatures and was prohibited from sleeping.

The Tancheng County Court tried Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Zhang Binglan and Mr. Sun Dejian (husband and wife) from Maoci Village on November 11th, 2009. Ms. Zhang's crime was making and distributing Falun Gong information, which exposed the persecution of Falun Gong. Two lawyers from Beijing defended their innocence, but after the 2010 New Year, the court decided to sentence Ms. Zhang to an eight-and-a-half-year sentence and Mr. Sun to a three-year sentence, with five years of probation.

Jiansanjiang Court officials in Heilongjiang Province scheduled a trial for Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Jiang Xinbo on December 1st, 2009. Her husband hired two lawyers from Beijing to enter a not-guilty plea. He wrote about the positive changes his wife experienced after practising Falun Gong and circulated it among his colleagues at school where his wife also worked before her arrest. More than 40 teachers signed the document to show their support and sympathy. Once they learned the husband had retained two lawyers, Chinese Communist agents were extremely worried that their persecution of Ms. Jiang would be exposed. The officials pressured Ms. Jiang's husband to sign his name to a pre-written agreement to dismiss the lawyers.

A Guangzhou City 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) agents, went to Mr. Chen Chenglin's place on September 24th, 2009. They attempted to enter Mr. Chen's house claiming they needed to make a fire safety inspection. Suspecting harassment Mr. Chen immediately called people at the Street Administration Office. Once he had confirmed there were no fire safety inspections being done in the area, he refused to open the door. In the end, Street Administration Office head promised over the phone that only he would enter the house for the inspection, and the others would remain outside. As soon as Deng entered the home, however, the 610 Office agents rushed in. They seized Mr. Chen and took him to the police station.

Mr. Zhang Tichao was arrested and detained repeatedly for practising Falun Gong. In 2002, Mr. Zhang was arrested in his field and taken to the Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp for a three-year term. He was 60 years old. In Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp, Mr. Zhang endured all kinds of torture. The guards instructed the prisoners to stab Mr. Zhang's head, neck, back, chest with a three-inch long steel needle. They stabbed him with so much force that sometimes the needle could not be pulled out. The guards also taught the prisoners to tie yarn to metal nuts and hit Mr. Zhang in the head with them. On March 31st, 2007, he was arrested again and sentenced to imprisonment in the Daqing City Prison. After May 2009, Mr. Zhang was tortured until he could not move or take care of himself. He died on January 22nd, 2010.

In April 2008, Ms. Yuan Yongwen was arrested by the Interpol Police Brigade of Qionglai Police Station. She was then sentenced. Since she was detained, she has been in critical condition many times. The prison authorities tortured Ms. Yuan and coerced her husband to assist in their "transformation" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] effort. Under intense pressure, Ms. Yuan was forced her to write a guarantee statement promising to give up Falun Gong practice. In December 2009, she was transferred to Sichuan Police General Hospital to serve the rest of her sentence.

Ms. Liu Weishan was sentenced to four years of imprisonment at the Wuhan City Women Prison in October 2002. She suffered from a mental disorder as result of the severe torture she received in the prison. She was secretly transferred back to the Xiangfan City 364 Hospital (Aero-Space System), and is now paralysed and bedridden. Her muscles have atrophied, causing her lower legs to be "z" shaped and distorted. She is mentally disabled and speaks only a few simple sentences, such as, "I want to go home."

I was born into a happy family. But when I was 10 years old, on a dreadful summer morning, my parents were taken away and I was left home alone. That day was July 20th, 1999. In the past ten years since that day, our family has never had one peaceful day. On April 27th, 2009, mother was arrested by undercover police from her office at Hebei Sifang Communications Company. She was later sent to a forced labour camp. Now mother is suffering from rectal cancer, but Hebei Women's Labour Camp refuses to allow her a medical parole. My father was also a victim of forced labour because of his belief. After suffering two years of torture in Shijiazhuang Labour Camp, his health quickly deteriorated, eventually leading to his death. I will never forget my father's horrendous suffering while at the labour camp.

Ms. Guo Wenyan and her family from Ningxia Province were seriously persecuted. Because she refused to give up her belief, she was fired by her company. Officers from the local police station and the Security Section of her previous workplace went to her home regularly to harass her family, confiscated her personal property, and even arrested her many times. Her second baby was killed by officials from the local Chinese Communist Party (CCP) when she gave birth. Her husband, who used to be a police officer, developed a mental disorder due to the persecution.

Ms. Yu, 59, is retired from the Chongqing Changan No. 1 Factory. Because she practised the Falun Gong exercises in front of the factory in May 2000, she was taken to the psychiatric ward at the hospital affiliated with the Changan No.1 Factory. Dr. Zhou Guilan from the Neurology Department prescribed drugs that damage the central nervous system and attempted to administer them to her in her food. When Ms. Yu refused to eat, two men and a woman named Wang Yu tied her to a bench and force-fed her. The forced-feedings occurred daily. Ms. Yu's mother went to the hospital every day and tried to get her released. She was successful after her daughter had been tortured for 28 days.

On January 9th, 2009, two Falun Gong practitioners went to Pingfeng Elementary School to distribute leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong to the students. On the way home, they were arrested by police, who were tipped off by school principal. Without following any legal procedures, the police ransacked the homes of these two practitioners and took a copier, tape recorder, Falun Gong books, and a motorcycle. They were held in Yingde City Detention Centre for several months and not allowed any family visits.

Warden Zhang Peibin was transferred from another prison to Xinxiang Women's Prison in 2007. He intensified the persecution, enforced hard labour, and placed firm practitioners in solitary confinement. Solitary was a very small room with only a concrete bed to sit on during the day. In the winter, the cold wind blew in, and some began to hallucinate. The guards only gave them a small bun for meals. The guards persecuted numerous practitioners this way. The guards also instigated other inmates to monitor and physically abuse practitioners. A 50-year-old female practitioner was beaten (her face was slapped and hair was pulled) by an inmate.

In the autumn of 2004, Ms. Liao Wuxiang went to Zhongjiang County to distribute leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong. She was arrested. Ms. Liao went on a hunger strike to protest, and she was force-fed with powdered milk, salt mixed with with ground Chinese prickly ash, chilli powder, and ground pepper. Then it was mixed with water. Ms. Liao was detained for three months, and she was force-fed for 28 days during that time. After March, she was transferred to Guanghan Detention Centre and detained there for 8 months. Finally she was sentenced to three years of imprisonment and sent to Sichuan Women's Prison in Yangmahe, Jianyang, Sichuan Province to be persecuted.

Mr. Liu Naichuan was a carpenter from Yinan County, Shandong Province. He and his wife Ms. Liu Tianying were persecuted repeatedly for believing in Falun Gong. Mr. Liu Naichuan died in 2008 from injuries sustained due to torture at the age of 48. After being tortured for three days in one detention centre, Ms. Liu Tianying was transferred back to another detention centre. During her detention, her face was deformed from the torture, and she was in a coma for a period of time.

Five practitioners spoke with people about Falun Gong on January 11th, 2010, in Doudaogou, Erdaodianzi. Someone reported them to the police and they were arrested. The police ransacked the homes of the five practitioners that same afternoon. They did not go through any legal procedures or present search warrants, and confiscated Falun Gong books, Falun Gong materials, three computers, a printer, some cash, bankbooks, and other items.

Ms. Qu Xinlian has been detained five times in the past 10 years, including two years of forced labour, simply for her belief and wanting to be a better person. The police often went to her home to harass her child and husband and both were even detained. There are eight in her family and their average income is about 200 yuan per month. Despite their meagre income, regime officials have extorted more than 7,000 yuan from them.

Ms. Sun Rui is a teacher from Dalianhe Town, Yilan County, Heilongjiang Province. Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, she has been detained four times and held in forced labour camps for two years. She has been extorted out of eight thousand yuan while in custody. In addition her workplace didn't pay the salary owed to her, amounting to four thousand yuan, and they also demoted her pay by two levels, resulting in a loss of over ten thousand yuan. Her total economic loss reached thirty thousand yuan.

During the past ten years, Ms. Yang Zenghua, 54, has suffered from frequent harassment, arrests, home invasions, and thefts. She was held in the Fuping Detention Centre and imprisoned in Baoding Forced Labour Camp for eighteen months. She has had 55,500 yuan in cash extorted from her family and had personal belongings worth 600 yuan taken from her, for a total of 56,100 yuan.

Li Fu, former commander of the Mudanjiang City Domestic Security Division said to someone in private, "I am going to retire soon. Before I retire, I can't treat these brothers (police) badly. We have to find all possible ways to collect money. Falun Gong practitioners and their relatives are our source of money." In early December 2009, officers from the Mudanjiang City Domestic Security Division arrested Mr. Wei Jingkun and confiscated two computers and other personal property. Policemen threatened him with forced labour, and then forced his relatives to pay 5,000 yuan.

Ms. Zhang Liqin went to Shangzhuang Township in Qianan City on the evening of May 22nd, 2008, to distribute Falun Gong materials in three villages. Someone reported her to the police, and she was arrested and tortured for three days. Electric batons were used to shock her, leaving her with blisters all over her body. She was held at the Qianan City Detention Centre for eighteen months before being sentenced to seven and a half years in prison on December 3rd, 2009.

On January 14th, 2010, Mr. Yu Zhongzhu's family received a call from Tailai Prison, asking them to go to the prison hospital because Mr. Yu was in critical condition. When his family rushed there, all were body-searched by the guards and not allowed to bring any communication devices or cameras. Mr. Yu died at 10 p.m. the same day, and his body was cremated without permission two days after, on January 16th, without autopsy.

We first learned about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in Hu County, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province at the beginning of August 2002 and began to investigate. Arrested practitioners were sent to a secret place in a ravine where they were beaten mercilessly and interrogated under torture. They were also hung up and whipped and they were kicked, slapped on their faces, and pounded on their necks with blunt instruments. Others were put in handcuffs and foot shackles, and forced to squat for a long time. Some were subjected to the "Tiger bench" torture method, others were deprived of sleep for several days and nights continuously, and some were not allowed to eat or drink, or to use the toilet.

Mr. Chen Ming used to be a famous businessman and had a nice family. After he began to practise Falun Gong, he became less attached to money and property and was glad to help people. Every year around New Year's Day he delivered food to the needy, which was reported on by the city TV station and newspapers. In the past ten years of the persecution of Falun Gong, he was arrested by the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) five times. The overall length of his detention has been about seven and a half years. He is still forced to stay away from home.

On the night of January 9th, 2010, officers from the Linxi Police Station in Lixi Town, Yutian County, Tangshan City, Hebei Province, arrested Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Xu Cuiyun and Ms. Shao Shumin. The officers confined the women in an iron cage and sprayed a kind of corrosive powder into their faces and noses. The practitioners' homes were also ransacked. The police took away their personal property. Currently, the two women have been held in the Yutian Detention Centre for 15 days.

Ms. Cheng Donglan was arrested on October 2nd, 2009, for practising Falun Gong; subsequently, her family hired an attorney. However, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture Judicial Bureau staff and Xichang City National Security Team blocked the attorney from meeting Ms. Cheng Donglan, citing "state secrets" as an excuse. The attorney explained to the National Security Team deputy director, Tai Gangyi, that a classified case in criminal law referred to a case involving state secrets. Ms. Cheng Donglan's case was open, so it didn't involve state secrets. Tai Gangyi then diverted the request, saying that the attorney needed local Judicial Bureau approval.

The Chengguan District Court in Lanzhou City upheld its verdict against four Falun Gong practitioners, and handed down the verdict only after the appeal deadline had passed. The practitioners were arrested in August 2008 The Chengguan District Court began trial on December 29th, 2008. On May 6th, 2009, the court sentenced Mr. Fang to nine years of imprisonment, Ms. Cui and Ms. Zhao to eight years, and Ms. Xue to three years with an additional parole term of five years. Now, Mr. Fang is imprisoned at the Lanzhou Prison. Ms. Cui and Ms. Zhou are imprisoned at the Gansu Province Women's Prison.

The food provided is barely enough and sometimes the rice is not fully cooked. Most of the examination results showed that inmates suffered from malnutrition. Almost all of the inmates have to do forced labour. The prison is a harsh place to be for regular inmates, but it is even worse for Falun Gong practitioners. Once, the prison detained over one hundred Falun Gong practitioners. The prison authorities also persecute practitioners mentally and try to transform [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] them. If Falun Gong practitioners do not comply with the transformation attempts, the inmates then punch and kick them, and guards shock them with electric batons. If practitioners shout "Falun Gong is good," inmates put dirty socks and towels into the practitioners' mouths.

On January 9th, 2010, Datong District Court in Daqing City imposed a five-year prison sentence on Ms. Xia Xianfang and a four-year prison sentence on Mr. Zhang Shiping, her husband. Both are Falun Gong practitioners. On August 5th, 2009, Ms. Xia was reported to the authorities while she was talking to people about Falun Gong in the area near where they live. After being held in detention over the four-month legal limit, Datong District Court held a trial without notifying the couple's family. The court sentenced Mr. Zhang to four years in prison and Ms. Xia Xianfang to five years in prison. The case has been appealed to Daqing City Intermediate Court.

On December 8th, 2009, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Ni Yingqin, 61, passed away after a long period of harassment and torture. She had been taken to Ankang Hospital (a mental hospital, used as a facility to persecute Falun Gong practitioners) and subjected to severe persecution because of her steadfast faith in Falun Gong. She was injected with toxic drugs, tortured with electric batons, brutally beaten and fed by force. In the end, Ms. Ni was tortured so severely that she suffered a stroke after she was released. She could no longer take care of herself and passed away after three years of illness.

Ms. Lu Shuqin, an elderly woman from Shijiazhuang City in Hebei Province, had two daughters, Ms. Feng Xiaomei, her oldest, and Ms. Feng Xiaomin. Both they and their husbands were Falun Gong practitioners. Ms. Feng Xiaomin's husband, Mr. Wang Hongbin, was tortured to death in 2003. Less than a year later, in 2004, Ms. Feng Xiaomin was also tortured to death. Ms. Lu's husband could not handle the overwhelming sadness of losing two children in a row. After being harassed numerous times by the police, he passed away in early 2005. Ms. Feng Xiaomei has become very ill from being tortured in a forced labour camp, yet is still being forced to work.

On January 4th, 2010, Ms. Tan Xiangyu, a 63-year-old Falun Gong practitioner, was arrested on Shaoshan South Street by officers from the Yuhuating Police Station of Changsha City. Police accused Ms. Tan of posting Falun Gong stickers. Ms. Tan's 11-year-old granddaughter was also arrested, detained, and interrogated for about one hour at the police station before being released and taken home by her mother. Qi Qi was frightened and trembling throughout this ordeal. Even after returning home, Qi Qi was still so frightened that she could not sleep until after midnight. The second day, she couldn't go to school, fearing that the police would go to her school and defame her in front of her teachers and fellow students.

On December 8th, 2009, more than a dozen police officers rushed to Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Cui Xianzhi's home in two vans. They arrested him and ransacked his home. After taking him to Wucheng County Detention Centre, they returned to his home to harass his family several times. Mr. Cui Xianzhi was later taken to Wangcun Forced Labour Camp in Shandong Province.

Since February 26th, 2003, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhu Luoxin has been imprisoned for nearly seven years in the Guangdong Province Women's Prison. There, she was put in solitary confinement in a dark room for two years and ten months. When she was released from solitary confinement, she couldn't walk and all of her hair had turned white. At Guangdong Province Women's Prison, Ms. Zhu has been viciously tortured including being beaten by inmates. She is also forced to do labour, producing cheap products to be exported to other countries.

Whenever mentioning their children in jail for practising Falun Gong, elderly couple, Wang Zhong and his wife Ju Shuyin, sob. Their elder son, Wang Hongbin, has been subjected to forced labour three times and sentenced to 13 years in prison since 2000. He is currently detained at Jinzhou Prison in Liaoning Province. Their daughter-in-law, Liu Junlu, was arrested in 2001 and sentenced to 12 years in prison. When she was detained at Liaoning Province Women's Prison, one of her arms was fractured and disabled due to the beatings. Younger son Wang Hongfeng, was sentenced to nine years in prison and is currently detained at Panjin Prison in Liaoning Province. Their eldest daughter, Wang Hongxia, was sentenced to six years in prison in 2009, and is currently detained at Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison.

Practitioner Ms. Chen Tonglian, 58 years old, was imprisoned in the Henan Province Women's Prison from 2006 to 2009. She went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution, and was on hunger strike on and off for nine months. On orders from deputy prison chief Hou Meili, guards and prisoners of the small cell section stripped Ms. Chen down to her underpants. Tong Guorong ordered prisoners to beat Ms. Chen. Her head was bleeding, and she was injured all over her body. Several prisoners forced open her mouth to force-feed her, breaking three of her front teeth. She was force-fed through a tube. Guards ordered prisoners to drag her to a cell, strike her with electric batons and put her in a prison uniform. Ms. Chen has remained firm in her belief.

Practitioner Mr. Yuan Yicheng and his daughter Yuan Xiaolan from Guangdong Province were arrested by police in September 2009 and detained at the Jiedong Detention Centre. The father has been detained for over three months, and the police have refused to release either of them. When Yuan Xiaolan's husband asked the police to release his wife, they told him that she would be released if she identified all other practitioners involved in producing Falun Gong informational materials.

Ms. Sun Shuwen's family of four are Falun Gong practitioners. They have been subjected to persecution numerous times for remaining steadfast in their belief. Due to pressure from Jiang Zemin's, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] regime's policy "Ruin their reputations, bankrupt them financially and destroy them physically," plus the persecution of her entire family, Ms. Sun suffered a brain haemorrhage, which resulted in paralysis. She was bedridden and not able to take care of herself. After being subjected to eight and a half years of physical torture and mental torment, Ms. Sun died on January 10th, 2010.

Ms. Zhang Hui is a retired doctor and a Falun Gong practitioner. In September 2007, after she put up some Falun Gong flyers in a public area, she was arrested. One month later, she was sent to the Sanshui Forced Labour Camp in Guangdong Province. During her labour camp term, the 60-year-old woman was subjected to a variety of tortures. She recounts: "Criminal inmates often tortured me. One day drug offender Zhang Hua grabbed my arms and bent them behind my back with all her strength. The pain was unbearable. After a while, I lost feeling in my arms, and my elbows swelled up and turned purple. I was later sent to Sanshui Hospital, where a CT scan revealed a head injury and a broken bone at my lower back."

Thirty-four-year-old Mr. Li Longji, a Falun Gong practitioner from Jilin Province, was arrested by police on September 17th, 2009. Mr. Li was interrogated under torture and is being held at the Yanji City Detention Centre. Officials finally notified Mr. Li Longji's elderly father and mother on December 10th, that their son had been arrested because he practised Falun Gong. Worried, they rushed to the Domestic Security Division in the Yanji City Police Department, to the city Procuratorate office, and the city detention centre in hopes of getting their son released. Their efforts were futile. In addition, they met with humiliation and persecution tactics at the hands of the police. Afterwards, Mr. Li's once-healthy father became ill, and his health progressively declined and died on January 2nd, 2010.

Mr. Li Zhengju and his family have been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since July 1999, when the CCP first began persecuting this group of people pursuing the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Because of the persecution, Mr. Li has become homeless and his wife, Xie Jingxiang, has been held hostage for over six months by the Domestic Security Division of the Police Department of Minquan County.

During the past ten years of persecution, Mr. Lei Jingxiong has been constantly harassed and tortured by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In 2004, police officers from Tianxing Public Security Bureau in Changsha City, Hunan City, had seemingly beat Mr. Lei to death. As his body was about to be cremated in a funeral home, a female officer discovered life signs and stopped the cremation. Mr. Lei was taken to a hospital, where he was again beaten. His face was disfigured, his left eye popped out slightly, one of his ears had gone deaf, and his chin was shattered. Because of his appearance, the young college graduate couldn't find a job.

Six police officers broke into my home on September 29th, 2006, and ransacked it, making everything a mess. They took away my personal belongings, such as Falun Gong books, a computer and a printer, and confiscated three thousand yuan. They took my non-practitioner husband and me to the Changsheng Police Station. I was then persecuted at a detention centre for more than 40 days and then sent to a forced labour camp. I couldn't study the Falun Gong teachings and practise Falun Gong exercises while in detention. My former illnesses returned. As I went to the toilet one morning I fainted and fell down. The police doctor there had no pity on me and kicked me with full strength, saying I was pretending to be ill. The guards still forced me to do heavy physical labour and I had a heart attack.

Mr. Lu Tong was sentenced to four years in prison by Jinchang District Court in Suzhou City on December 17th, 2008. His daughter, Lu Yan, and his attorneys appealed for him. The court held a hearing on December 10th, 2009, but refused to reverse the sentence and made things difficult for the attorneys. On July 4th, 2008, the 50-year-old Mr. Lu was arrested by officers from the Caixiang Police Station and put in Wuxi City Prison after the court sentenced him. Prior to this, he was once held in Fangqiang Forced Labour Camp in Jiangsu Province and brutally tortured. His daughter, Lu Yan, was once jailed too, in trying to rescue him.

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Jin Lida went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong in December 1999. She was arrested and held at the Huainan No. 2 Detention Centre for nearly nine months while the guards savagely tortured her. Detention centre head Tao, guard Wang and political head Hu were among the most vicious. They shackled and handcuffed Ms. Jin and hung her from the metal window railing, and also forced her to run in the snow. They once handcuffed her behind her back, dragged her into the yard and whipped her repeatedly.

On November 10th, 2009, the Jiguan District Court tried Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Wang Xinchun, Ms. Zhong Li, and Mr. Liu Xuegang. The court adjourned at 4 p.m. Four lawyers defended the case. The prosecuting attorney had difficulty responding because of the complete testimony by the defence. The evidence provided by the prosecuting attorney was incomplete. Although the case involved illegal issues such as forged records by the police, inconsistent evidence, extorting a confession by torture, and improper incitement of the law, the court circumvented the law and sentenced Mr. Wang to nine years of imprisonment, and Mr. Liu and Ms. Zhong to eight years.

Mr. Liu Cheng is a practitioner who has been imprisoned as a forced labourer three times. During his three imprisonments, he suffered numerous tortures, such as brutal beatings, hung up by hand cuffs, sleep deprivation, electric shocks, iron chair, "buckle poking soft ribs", "scratching muscle seam", "gripping testicle", "five horses splitting a body", "lasting stretching", "hang thousand weight at waist".

Falun Gong practitioner Chang Guiyun, aged 59, from Jiaohe City, Jilin Province, is being severely persecuted at the Heizuizi Women's Prison of Changchun City. She has lost all her teeth, lost a lot of weight, her facial features have become deformed and her hair has turned grey. She is unable to speak clearly or perform daily functions well. Ms. Chang is forcibly brainwashed and constantly watched by inmates who are assigned to monitor and torture practitioners. She is forced to sit on a small plastic stool for 15 hours a day. She is also forced to watch video programmes defaming Falun Gong, and then has to repeatedly write essays renouncing her belief in Falun Gong.

On January 4th, 2010, when Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Wang Yuelan was posting posters exposing the persecution of Falun Gong, she was arrested by security patrol officers. Huang Liang, head of the police station, took her to the police station. Ms. Wang has been persecuted many times. On July 4th, 2000, she went to Beijing to appeal. Police officers handcuffed and dragged her into the police van at Jiangxi Liaison Office in Beijing. There are still scars on her wrists from this incident. After bringing Ms. Wang from Beijing to Jiangxi, the police sent her to Jiujiang County Detention Centre. When Ms. Wang asked to have the confiscated Falun Gong books returned, she was force-fed a highly concentrated solution of salted water by Rao Hongyan, head of the detention centre.

On February 8th, 2000, six practitioners went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong to the authorities. In mid March Ma Pingan arrested ten practitioners, who had recently visited Beijing and promptly sent them to detention centres. He directed police officers to utilise criminals, such as drug addicts and prostitutes to assault and humiliate these detainees. Practitioner Wu Yali suffered from several broken ribs as a result of these beatings. Zhen Cuiping suffered a broken sternum and was unable to lie down for more than one month, and was only able to rest while leaning against a wall. Wang Xinlian was robbed of over 1700 yuan that she carried on her, received beatings so severe that her jacket was worn out, and was shackled for over two weeks.