As the 2008 Beijing Olympics approach, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is intensifying its persecution of peaceful Falun Gong practitioners. The Party claims this is necessary to ensure "a successful Olympics." Party officials such as the director of the 610 Office of Yongji County closely follow orders from the Central Committee of the CCP. In the beginning of March 2008, they arrested two teachers from Beidahu Town Primary School, Ms. Wang Jing and Xu Qing. They deceived Ms. Wang Jing by telling her that they would pay her salary while she was detained in a forced labour camp and then arrested her. She has been detained for more than two months, and family visits are not allowed.

Around May 24th-26th, many practitioners went missing in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. Among these, twenty-four were arrested in one night in Dongling District. Another practitioner was also missing and her paralysed mother has been left at home without anyone to care for her. An internal source revealed that when Party Political and Judiciary Committee Chief Zhou Yongkang arrived in Shenyang City, he secretly ordered the arrests of 50 practitioners. Now we have confirmed at least 30 that were arrested, with many more suffering brutal treatment, and many families living in terror. Mr. Miao Qisheng, has been tortured to death by police officers in Shenyang City. His wife Zu Liming was also arrested on May 24th, 2008. Their son Miao Yumeng (nicknamed Mengmeng), once again lives alone.

On May 12th and 13th, 2008, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agents from Suizhong County in Huludao City of Liaoning Province manipulated court staff to carry out an illegal trial against nine Falun Gong practitioners. Ms. Zhou Yingchun and Ms.Yang Zhaoying were tried while they were confined to their beds at Suizhong County Hospital with IVs and on oxygen. During the process of the so-called trial, Ms. Yang had a heart attack, her hands and legs were shaking non-stop and doctors and nurses in the hospital had to resuscitate her. When this happened, court staff Guan Shulin and people from the procuratorate read the bureaucratic documents very fast and then just a few minutes later, they quickly left.

On April 23rd, 2008, police officers from the Benxi City Police Department in Liaoning Province arrested local practitioners during a well-coordinated operation. Some officers said that the operation and the list of practitioners were from the Liaoning Provincial government. A dozen officers from Jinshan Police Station knocked on the door of practitioner Mr. Zi Lidong, who is in his 30s, and pretended to be plumbers. Mr. Zi's family told them to wait until the following day. The officers started to pound on the door until they broke it. Mr. Zi jumped from the third floor to escape. Unfortunately he injured his chest, hip, and leg, and was sent to the hospital for an operation.

At about 9:00 pm, on April 23rd, 2008, police officers along with agents from the National Security, 10 individuals turned off the power switch located in the hallway outside Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Wang Zengwu's apartment. He opened his door to see if he could fix the problem by turning the power switch on. They took advantage of the open door to enter, ransacked his home, and took his computer. Mr. Wang Zengwu was arrested and detained for 15 days. Now he is detained in the Shuangliao City Detention Centre. He was sentenced to prison in 2002 and was fired from his job, only because he practised Falun Gong.

On April 17th, 2008, six Falun Gong practitioners, including Ms. Xu Shuqin, were unjustly tried by the Zunhua City Court in Hebei Province. The court appointed one lawyer for each practitioner for a mock defence. On April 24th, 2008, after the court session, the Zunhua City Court sentenced the six practitioners, including Ms. Xu, who was sentenced to four and a half years. She has already appealed to the Tangshan City Intermediate People's Court. She was previously detained, tortured and suffered brainwashing. Her family was ordered to take her home and pay five thousand yuan.

Ms. Liang Li is a practitioner from a broadcast bureau. Since she continued to practise Falun Gong, she was dismissed and has not been paid a salary for eight years. The police often went to her home to harass her and try to "transform" her. Her husband could not bear the intense pressure and jumped off a tall building to commit suicide. Recently, 610 Office agents looked for Ms. Liang everywhere. They could not find her at home, so the broadcast centre dispatched a vehicle to Beijing to look for her, but in vain.

Police officers in Xiangtan County, Hunan Province arrested five Falun Gong practitioners in February 2008. When police arrested Mr. Zhu Guangquan, his computer, printer and 12,900 "yuan" cash were seized from his home. In March, Ms. Zhang Yaqin was arrested. Her husband refused to cooperate with the police officers, so they threatened to arrest him for "hindering official business".

Practitioner Ms. Hu Zhanying is almost 70 years old. She retired with honours from No. 18 Middle School in Chongqing City. On the afternoon of March 24th, 2008, as she entered her home with her grandson, a group of police officers led by Liang Shibin rushed in and arrested her. They also ransacked her home, seizing many items including purses, computers, and some materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong. It is reported that Ms. Hu is being detained and mistreated in a brainwashing centre in Chongqing City.

In February, 2008, a dozen people, including two lawyers, went to Shenyang City in order to visit Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Feng Guofu in jail. On February 25th, 2008, they were arrested while they slept. After they had money extorted from them, everyone in the group except 50-year-old Ms. Li Shuming was released. She has been beaten, jailed, and endured forced labour many times because she practises Falun Gong. She has been deaf for four years, ever since the township's government ordered 15 people to beat her.

On March 3rd, 2008, the chief of police led a dozen agents from the security section and the 610 Office to break into Ms. Zheng Caiyun's home and take her away. Her husband and children tried to stop them, demanding to know if they had a legal basis to do such a thing. They replied, "The chief said so." Her family had to watch Zheng Caiyun being taken away. After cultivating Falun Gong, Ms. Zheng always thought of others and was appreciated by her neighbours. Now this wonderful person has been arrested and locked up and continues to be persecuted.

On September 23rd, 2007, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Huang Qian was taken into custody by 610 Office agents. The agents suspected that Ms. Huang was involved in rescuing her younger brother, Mr. Huang Jiang, who had been arrested and detained at a brainwashing centre. She was arrested by police officers from the Tianhe District Station and had been previously detained at the Tianhe District Detention Centre for over six months. On March 20th, 2007, Mr. Huang Jiang was arrested and taken to the brainwashing centre.

Ms. Lai Jinming, 49, was reported to the police by a gate guard when she distributed leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong in the apartment building of the Hunan Province Art Institute. Later, she was arrested by police and was detained at the Changsha City Detention Centre. Since no visits are allowed, her current situation and how badly she has suffered from torture is still unknown.

At about 11 a.m. on March 20th, 2008, a group of plainclothes police officers suddenly rushed into a school in Nangang District in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. The police took away 17 students who were attending class, and confiscated two computers. The students' parents are Falun Gong practitioners who are being detained and persecuted. Some students' parents were persecuted to death. Under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecution, these children were forced to drop out of school.

Mr. Xie Yunhuan was arrested in 2000 and sentenced to ten years in prison for appealing to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. In Hadagang Prison, Mr. Xie was forced to do dangerous hard labour underground in the coal mine everyday. He was whipped or beaten with a club by the guards if he did not work fast enough. Recently in Mudanjiang City Prison he was beaten badly for speaking out for justice for Falun Gong.

At 7:30 a.m., a group of persecutors from the Political and Legal Committee in the Yuexiu District, personnel from the 610 Office and the local police department went to practitioner Cai Yuzhen's home. They confiscated a computer, printer, an MP3 player and other personal belongings. The 75-year-old Cai Yuzhen immediately experienced symptoms of high blood pressure and was hospitalized for four days. Her children were forced to write a "guarantee statement" to give up Falun Gong and provide copies of their identification cards. They then had to send their mother to the home of a daughter who lives in another city. This was only one of the persecution events that were due to the "Olympic Torch" coming to Guangzhou.

Mr. Yu Ping and his wife were arrested by seven police officers on April 19th. Because he went to Tiananmen Square to appeal for justice for Falun Gong on June 20th, 2000, Mr. Yu's PhD was withheld and not granted. Mr. Yu received a full scholarship from Ohio State University in the US, but he lost his opportunity to study there because he was sentenced to four years in prison and held in the notorious Seventh Division of the Beijing Police Department and Beijing Qianjin Prison because he dared to expose the persecution of Falun Gong. Mr. Yu Ping's wife, Ms. Zhao Yumin, was also sentenced. She was held in Beijing Women's Prison. Both of them suffered all kinds of torture.

Falun Gong practitioners, Mr. Gao Weixi, Mr. Shi Guoliang, Ms. Wang Fuxia and Ms. Yang Defang from Changchun City, Jilin Province were tried and harshly sentenced on April 29th, 2008. This was after they had been held in detention for nearly a year. Among them, Ms. Wang Fuxia and Mr. Shi Guoliang, were sentenced to nine-year prison terms. Mr. Gao Weixi and Ms. Yang Defang were sentenced to seven-year prison terms. Eyewitnesses said that the Nanguan District Court tried another group of Falun Gong practitioners, after they sentenced these four practitioners.

Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Song Wenhua and Ms. Li Lixin of Tianjin City were arrested on January 25th, 2008, and were detained at the Beichen Detention Centre in Tianjin City. On February 4th, they were given arrest documents. On the morning of April 25th, they were sentenced by the Beichen Court in Tianjin City, charged with the crime of installing a satellite dish to watch programmes from a sympathetic to Falun Gong TV network, New Tang Dynasty Television. The judge only allowed two family members to attend. All other relatives and friends were not allowed to enter the court. The court also appointed lawyers.

Using "Security for the Olympics" as an excuse, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials in Jilin Province have been arresting large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners since April 23rd, 2008. According to inside information, an order was given that if anyone went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and was arrested, the mayor of the city where the person comes from would be removed from office. On April 23rd, 2008, police arrested practitioner Li Shigang when he was picking up his child from school. At 6:00 p.m., the police broke into Li's brother-in-law's house (where Li and his family temporarily lived) with a blank search warrant. When questioned on the legitimacy of the warrant, the police filled out the warrant at the scene and continued the search. Li Shigang's whereabouts are currently unknown.

Ms. Mou, 51, was arrested and taken to a brainwashing centre. At the brainwashing centre, they forced Ms. Mou to submit her "living expenses." Afterwards more than ten police officers rushed into Ms. Mou's home demanding the money for her living expenses. The police then confiscated her family's television and tape recorder, among other things. In September 2004, Ms. Mou's family was also attacked, and Ms. Mou was imprisoned for a month. In 2006, Ms. Mou was taken away by the police again and imprisoned for allegedly "attacking the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)."

On the night of April 23rd, 2008, police officers in Changsha City arrested practitioner Ms. He Xianggu at her home. After they arrested her, they ransacked her home. Her personal belongings, including her computer, were taken away. On April 24th, after being held in custody for 24 hours, she was transferred to the Changsha City Detention Centre. This is the eighth time Ms. He Xiangguu has been arrested and jailed since the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999 by the Chinese Communist Party. Ms. He was detained twice at mental hospitals, and sent to labour camps three times.

Mr. Yin Yucai is 76 years old. He started to practise Falun Gong after retirement and became very healthy, both physically and psychologically. After the persecution of Falun Gong started in July 1999, Mr. Yin was detained many times. He was put in a forced labour camp for three years. In 2005, he was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment and is currently in Yuzhang Prison in Jiangxi Province. Due to prolonged persecution, his health has deteriorated. Lately, he is suffering from severe oedema.

With the excuse of "preparing for the Olympics," two Falun Gong practitioners in their 70s were taken to a brainwashing centre in March 2008 by police officers in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province. Ms. Liu Jing, 75, was a doctor at Xidian University Hospital before retirement. On her way home on the afternoon of March 17th, 2008, she was arrested and taken to the Xi'an City Chang'an District Brainwashing Centre, where she was tortured.

26-year-old Falun Gong practitioner Wang Lihui has been held for nearly twenty days. The National Security Team of the Nangang District Police Department denied his family their right to visit him. His 60-year-old mother is so worried, that her heart attacks frequently recur, and she suffers from extremely painful headaches. Over the past several years, she has witnessed her husband Mr. Wang Shixue being arrested and tortured to near death several times. He died recently, and now her son has also been arrested. She is very worried about her son.

Ms. Shang Yuping was detained several times because she practises Falun Gong. In April 2005, she was sentenced to prison for three years. On April 6th, 2008, when she was scheduled to be released, authorities sent her to Erdaopeng brainwashing centre in Jianghan District instead of releasing her. In April 2005, she and five other practitioners were found producing Falun Gong material. They were arrested by police and were sent to Wuhan No. 1 Women's Detention Centre. Ms. Shang Yuping was sentenced to three years in Wuhan Women's Prison.

On April 15th, a gang of policemen from Tianhe Police Department arrested practitioners Mr. Chen Yongtao, and Ms. Zou Danyu, husband and wife. The policemen also searched their residence and took many of their personal belongings. The next day, policemen from Tianhe Police Department, along with a local policeman from the Research Institute of Non-ferrous Metals and individuals from the neighbourhood committee that didn't know any better arrested Ms. Zou's parents and searched their residence. These thugs took their computer, and other personal belongings. Mr. Chen and Ms. Zou's whereabouts are unknown.

On February 24th, 2008, Ms. Jing took a taxi to Shenyang City to visit her relatives and friends who were imprisoned at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. Police arrested Ms. Jing, the practitioners who were with her, and the taxi driver and jailed Ms. Jing at the Chaoyang City No. 1 Detention Centre. The taxi driver was tortured to death. The first time Ms. Jing Fei was imprisoned was July 1999. She was arrested in Beijing while appealing for the right to practise Falun Gong and was taken to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in November 1999. Ms. Jing lost her beloved job in the government-owned nursery school because of her beliefs.

At around 9 a.m. on April 9th, 2008, four Falun Gong practitioners from Caojia Village in Jilin Province, were arrested. They are Li Yanwei and his wife Ding Qin, You Zuozai and his wife Kan Xuxiang. Police searched their homes and first inspected how the residents received TV signals. Then the police found and removed several CDs exposing the persecution of Falun Gong, Falun Gong books and a TV signal receiver. On the next day, the police searched You Zuozai's home twice. You's mother said to her neighbours, "They came four or five times in the two days, which really frightened me." The police police tortured Li Yanwei to try and extort a confession. The police beat him and force-fed him with horseradish concentrate.

As Songyuan City is one of the Olympic Torch relay cities, in order to guarantee having no protests during the torch relay and the Olympic Games, the Songyuan City Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Committee and its government administration held a general assembly that included representatives from the police department and other law enforcement agencies of the city. The head of the city Chinese Communist Party Committee, Lan Jun, member of the Municipal Party Committee, the Deputy Mayor, Secretary of the City Politics and Law Committee, Wu Xinghong, and others, issued an order demanding that the police units give full play to their so-called "function." For a period of 100 days, they carried out an intense round of arrests of Falun Gong practitioners. Prior to that, Communist officials had also issued a secret order to "strike hard" on Falun Gong.

After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime launched a campaign to "eradicate" Falun Gong in July 1999, Mr. Zeng Shugang went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and related his own experiences to the government authorities, asserting that Falun Gong was being defamed by the media's false propaganda. On February 26th, 2008, Zeng Shugang was sentenced to five years of imprisonment. Mr. Zeng has been widely praised for his upstanding character and kind-heartedness. His steadfast belief and his relentless crusade to tell people the truth about Falun Gong was met with brutal persecution by the CCP regime.

Ms. Cai Junxia and her mother-in-law were forcibly taken away by police on July 18th, 2007. On January 7th, 2008, the Communist Party-controlled Qianxi County Court sentenced Ms. Cai Junxia, who had been already been detained for almost six months, to up to four years of imprisonment. That sentence was confirmed on March 10th. This is the second member of this family subjected to a heavy sentence. Over a year ago, Ms. Chuai Cuijun was sentenced to five years.

On March 12th, 2008, Mr. Li Zhenning, a 22-year-old practitioner, walked out of Minghua Computer Store on Lianchi South Street in Baoding City. Just when he was about to unlock his bicycle, he was surrounded by a group of people and forcibly taken to Yuhualu Police Station. At Yuhualu Police Station, the head of the station interrogated Mr. Li using various methods to threaten and deceive him into a "confession." When Mr. Li protested their actions, the head of the police station forced him into a room and brutally beat him. As a result, Mr. Li had a black eye and some blood around his right eye. The next day the perpetrators claimed that they had all the paper work ready to send Mr. Li to the Mancheng County Detention Centre. Upon hearing this, Mr. Li's uncle who does not practise Falun Gong, gave the police 2,000 yuan to have Mr. Li finally released.

Mr. Xia Maoshu and Ms. Li Zhonghua, husband and wife, live in a village in Jilin Province. On March 6th, 2008, village head Chen Jibin of Weizuizi Village and officers from the Xiajiadian Police Station ransacked the couple's home and confiscated many of their personal belongings, including all of their Falun Gong books and a satellite receiver. Both husband and wife are currently detained at the Dehui Detention Centre. According to an inside source, Mr. Xia Maoshu was physically assaulted while in custody.

Practitioner Mr. Wang Hongfa was taken into custody on July 16th, 2007. On August 20th, 2007, he was sentenced to a one-and-a-half year forced labour term at the Huadu Forced Labour Camp in Guangzhou City. Mr. Wang's wife, Ms. Deng Yi, has tried to visit him four times, but was refused by the forced labour camp officials each time. Mr. Wang's father is 70 years old and was diagnosed with liver cancer. Since he is critically ill, Ms. Deng asked the labour camp officials to allow Mr. Wang to see his father for one last time. The labour camp officials, however, refused her request and also threatened her.

Xian Rumei is a Falun Gong practitioner from the Xiliu Farm in Danzhou City, Hainan Province. On March 10th, 2008, her younger brother (also a practitioner) was arrested by police. On March 11th, Xian Rumei, her husband, practitioner Xue Zhaoshun, and her mother, all went to the local police station and requested to see her brother. The police officer in charge agreed and had them sent to the Xilian Police Department in a police vehicle. Yet instead of being allowed to see her brother, Ms. Xian and her husband were held at the Xilian Police Department and only her mother was able to go home.

After going to Beijing in April 2000 to appeal for justice for Falun Gong at Tiananmen Square, 46-year-old Ms. Wang Guixiang was arrested and detained in Banqiao Forced Labour Camp for one and a half years. Ms. Wang was severely tortured at the labour camp. She was shocked with three or four high-voltage electric batons simultaneously all over her body, brutally force-fed, and put in solitary confinement. One of her teeth was knocked out during a beating. Later she was forced to stay away from home for nearly three years to avoid further persecution. Her husband could not bear the persecution any more, and divorced Ms. Wang in 2001. In March 2008, police took Wang Guixiang into custody off the street. She has been sentenced to forced labour for two years and is detained in Shijiazhuang Women's Labour Camp.

On April 7th, 2008, two schoolteachers, Ms. Zhao Fei and Ms. Liu Lihua, both Falun Gong practitioners, were arrested by police. The headmaster of Shigezhuang School reported Ms. Zhao and Ms. Liu to the police for distributing leaflets exposing the persecution to students and telling them the facts about Falun Gong. In 2000, Ms. Zhao Fei and Ms. Liu Lihua went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. They were arrested. At the police station, they were beaten and left with cuts and bruises all over. Their faces were disfigured and their hands and feet burnt by the shocks of electric batons. The communist party officials even handcuffed them to utility poles and put them on display in public to defame them.

During the past eight years, the National Security Division of Hongta Police Department in the Yuxi Area of Yunnan Province has been arresting, interrogating, and imprisoning Falun Gong practitioners. They once claimed that whoever practises Falun Gong in the Yuxi area would be arrested. They also claimed that even if those who secretly did the spying and tracking found no evidence, they could still find an excuse to arrest you and then search your home to find evidence. It doesn't matter if the sentence is wrong or too heavy because no one would dare to defend Falun Gong. Those without any income can be sentenced to forced labour. Those with jobs and income are also sentenced to forced labour and they lose their jobs when they return.

On February 23rd, 2008, police officers arrested Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Sun Xiaohong and detained her at the Tancheng County Detention Centre. On March 6th, 2008, Political Security Office Agent Hou of the Tancheng County Police Department arrested Mr. Sun Siye. He is being detained at the Tancheng County Detention Centre.

On January 17th, 2008, a group of police officers from the National Security Department forcibly entered practitioner Mr. Zhang Siying's home. The officers announced that they were looking for a satellite dish. The officers acted without regard for legal procedures. They searched the home and seized a TV, DVD player, and an MP3 player, along with other valuable items. The officers were inconsiderate of the fact that Mr. Zhang Siying was quite weak due to his imprisonment and persecution over the past several years. Officers Han and He directed the other men to twist his arms and take him to the police station, where he was put in a jail cell.

Police arrested practitioner Mr. Song Aichang at noon on June 22nd, 2007. They ransacked his home and took him to the Keyuan Police Station, where they tortured him. The police submitted documents containing fabricated information against Mr. Song to officials at the Qiaoxi District Procuratorate. The court held a trial on the morning of October 26th, 2007. Mr. Song's lawyer presented an airtight argument. The judge, however, dared not cross the police. The case was returned to the Procuratorate for supplemental information. It was re-submitted to the Qiaoxi District Court on January 18th, 2008. Another trial commenced on February 27th, six days past the 45-day retrial statute of limitations.

On March 10th, 2008, the local Police Department, National Security Team, and Public Security Team of Gaobeidian City, Hebei Province deployed eight police vehicles to surround Mr. Zhang Deming's home and arrest him. Later, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) police issued an "arrest warrant" and are planning to sentence Mr. Zhang to prison. The police ransacked his home, and confiscated Falun Gong materials and a large number of Mr. Zhang's personal belongings and extorted a large amount of money.

Ms. Gu Li and practitioner Ms. Qiu Shuping explained to people how they benefited from the practice of Falun Gong and exposed the facts about the persecution. They were arrested on the afternoon of March 20th, 2008 by police and three security officers. The two practitioners were taken to the police department and then to a detention centre. Numerous police officers ransacked their homes.

In the first quarter of 2008, police in Daqing City, Heilongiang Province have been collaborating with local thugs, gangsters, and vagrants to monitor, harass, and arrest Falun Gong practitioners. Methods include phone tapping, following, illegal opening of personal mail, break-ins, and other illegal means. Falun Gong practitioner Lu Jigui was arrested the first time on February 1st, 2008. In the detention centre Mr. Lu went on a hunger strike protesting the persecution. He was violently force-fed and tortured several times, causing a drastic deterioration of his health. Lu Jigui was released on February 11th, 2008 and arrested again on February 26th. After his first arrest, Daqing City police began monitoring and investigating Lu Jigui, his family members and visitors, around the clock.

On August 1st, 2007, Falun Gong practitioner Cao Jianshan went to a shopping centre in Huizhou City to hand out leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong. He was arrested by security guards and taken to Qiaoxi Police Station for interrogation. That same night, 20 police officers went to Mr. Cao's home. Ms. Cao, who was already in bed, was terrified by the police intruding into her home. She suffered a heart attack when police officers dragged her from her room. Following this incident, Mr. Cao was detained at Huicheng District Gutangao Detention Centre for 31 days. His family were not allowed to visit him until February 2008.

Xie Yuntong, a 45-year-old male and chief of the Politics and Security Section of the Police Department in Baoqing Country, Shuangyashan City, Heilongjiang Province, has been actively involved in extorting huge sums of money from Falun Gong practitioners since he took office. He has also been actively persecuting practitioners. On September 6th, 2006, practitioner couple Mr. Zhang Zhaohua and Ms. Yuan Meirong, were arrested by police and taken to the detention centre. Mr. Zhang was detained for nearly seven weeks. A prison guard severely beat him with a plastic tube about one inch in diameter. Inmates forcibly bathed him with cold water. He had 15,000 yuan extorted from him before he was released. Ms. Yuan was detained for six days and had 1300 yuan extorted from her before she was released.

On March 11th, 2008, police from the Tingzhen Police Station and Laishui County 610 Office arrested four Falun Gong practitioners in Gao Village and Dachitu Village. The police also ransacked their homes. Police went to practitioner Ms. Chang Zhengying's home, smashed the door and pried open the lock. Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started the persecution of Falun Gong, Chang Zhenying's home has been ransacked about 20 times.

Ms. Cui Yaning, a Falun Gong practitioner, had already been arrested and in a forced labour camp twice before. In the forced labour camp she was subjected to torture at the hands of the guards during her five years' incarceration. On February 25th, 2008, she was arrested for the third time. Jinzhou City police officers were responsible for the arrest, although police issued the arrest order. Ms. Cui is now being held in the city No. 1 Detention Centre. She will be sentenced.

At 5 p.m. on March 12th, 2008, Mr. Wang Deqian, a folk artist from Hebei Province, was arrested again by police officers from the Yi County Police Department and the Longmen Township Police Station in Laishui County. The police ransacked his home, leaving it a mess. Some art and craft materials were confiscated. Mr. Wang Deqian was sent to the Yi County Detention Centre. He has started a hunger strike to protest the persecution. Mr. Wang's oldest daughter went to visit him by bus, but the guards would not let her see her father.