On September 12th, 2007, officers from the Zhuozhou Police Department arrested 48-year-old Ms. Junhua Xin at her house and subjected her to torture to get a "confession." We have heard that the police department personnel might sentence her. In eight years of persecution, she was subjected to five arrests, sentenced three times and tortured many times. During the period, her husband decided to divorce her for fear of implication.

Practitioner, Mr. Chen Yujiang, was detained in 2004. He has been on a hunger strike since then, requesting that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to release all practitioners. In December 2004, Mr. Chen was transferred to the No. 5 prison in Xinjiang Province. Mr. Chen continued his hunger strike and requested unconditional release. He did not follow any orders and refused to attend the so-called "transformation" class. Thugs force-fed Mr. Chen and broke two teeth. Those in charge forced Mr. Chen into an isolated room and tied him to a "Tiger Bench" and force-fed him everyday.

On May 23rd, 2003, Wang Jinfang was detained and sentenced to two years of forced labour. At the Wangcun Forced Labour Camp she was subjected to two years of imprisonment by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). When she was released from the labour camp on March 15th, 2005, the CCP members sent her to the Weifang Brainwashing Centre for further persecution as they thought that she had not been fully "transformed." Due to his refusal to give up his beliefs, the CCP members tortured him using a variety of methods. All sorts of cruel methods were used to torture Dafa practitioners, and each is forced to pay a fee of 30,000 yuan. A couple from Cangyi City was disabled from the torture. The husband's private part was shocked with electric batons until it was terribly swollen and injured, and his wife was injured so badly that she could not tend to her daily activities.

Teacher and Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Shen Yanhui began to practise Falun Gong in July 1998. Her mother-in-law, another practitioner, has been arrested several times. In March, 2000, Ms. Shen wrote a letter to the secretary of the Communist Political and Judiciary Committee. She explained the real situation of Falun Dafa and defended her mother-in-law's innocence. As a result, Li Dianxian ordered government agents to seriously harass Ms. Shen. The Chinese Communist Party secretary of Hailiutu Township went to Ms. Shen's work place over 20 times to try to coerce her to give up Falun Gong. He told Ms. Shen that she would have to give up her faith in Falun Dafa and threatened her that she would lose her teaching job if she did not comply. Finally, Ms. Shen Yanhui quit her teaching job on December 25th, 2000, because she could no longer endure the constant harassment and pressure.

Ms. Chen Guolan, 43, was persecuted several times for practising Falun Gong, and the managers at her workplace withheld a 20,000 yuan severance payment because of her belief. Eight police officers arrested Ms. Chen Guolan at her home on August 15th, 2006. On September 13th, they sent Ms. Chen to the Guizhou Province Women's Forced Labour Camp. In November 2006, Ms. Chen appeared to have uterine cancer. The camp officials made requests to send her home for medical treatment, but police officials from the different units passed the buck, saying there was no money to take her back. After Ms. Chen Guolan's family told them they would pay all the expenses, the agents finally took her back. On September 21st, 2007, Ms. Chen was arrested again in the middle of the night. Ms. Chen's whereabouts are currently unknown.

At approximately 3 pm. on November 2nd, 2007, a dozen officers from Anqiu City "Anti-Cult" Division Armed Force Bureau, went to Falun Dafa practitioner Mr. Xu Jingping's home in Anqiu City to arrest him. Mr. Xu and his son were at home but refused to open the door to the Armed Force Bureau. The officers took turns stationing themselves in front of the door of the home of Mr. Xu for four days. They continually pounded on the door until they finally broke it. The noise was so loud that it was heard in the distance, terrorizing the residents of the building. After they broke down the door, the officers arrested Mr. Xu and his son (a non-practitioner).

It has just been learned that Falun Dafa practitioner Mr. Xiong Zhengming from Wanyuan City, Sichuan Province died while in police custody, and his body was hastily cremated by the local police. Wanyuan City Domestic Security Division Chair Ye Xudong (male) and others gave inconsistent accounts of the cause of Mr. Xiong's death. It was first said that Mr. Xiong committed suicide while being transferred to the Xinhua Forced Labour Camp, but soon after issuing that statement, it was said he died in a traffic accident. The real cause of Mr. Xiong's death is suspicious. Why did the agents cremate his body so quickly? What are they trying to hide?

Ms. Fan Juncao, 65, persistently practises Falun Gong, follows the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance," and exposes the persecution, and therefore she has been sentenced to forced labour twice in 2000 and 2005 by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. In June 2006, Ms. Fan Juncao was sent to a small cell because she did the Falun Gong exercises while in the labour camp. Guards handcuffed her to a steel bed frame in such a way that she was suspended with the tips of her toes touching the ground. After five days of this torture, her wrists were bleeding and she was in a daze. An inmate found her like this and called the head guard Wang. They let her down just long enough for her to regain consciousness and then hung her up again.

Ms. Li Xiaoying is in her fifties and was previously a teacher in Shijiazhuang. Ms. Li refused to give up her belief in Falun Gong. Therefore, guards in the Hebei Women's Prison tortured and berated her and put her in solitary confinement for over three months. Li Hongzhen instigated Wang Junlan and Feng Zhiyun to slap Ms. Li until her eyes were purple and swollen and she bled from her mouth and nose. They also denied her visitations and deprived her of all freedom. She was often scolded and sometimes forced to eat excrements from toilets. After a while, Ms. Li suffered a mental collapse.

In November 2007, 610 Office officials broke into practitioner Yuan Penghong's home. They arrested Mr. Yuan's eldest son and daughter-in-law. The policemen smashed Mr. Yuan's satellite TV receiver and took away his TV, DVD player, and an unknown amount of cash, along with other property belonging to Mr. Yuan. His son is detained in the Weifang Detention Centre.

Ms. Zhang Yulan was arrested by the local police at about 11:00 a.m. on November 28th, 2007, in Baishan City, Jilin Province. Eight or nine police officers went to Ms. Zhang's home, where they arrested her, ransacked her home, and confiscated a Falun Gong book and materials. The police officers also claimed that they would not return her bank deposit book that they had confiscated, which has access to 10,000 yuan in her bank account. This was her living allowance provided to her by her children. No one knows where Ms. Zhang was taken. In 2003, Ms. Zhang Yulan's father and brother were both tortured to death in the Changchun City Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp because they practised Falun Gong.

On October 1st National Day, the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) 17th Party Congress, they arrested more than 12 Falun Gong practitioners. Police officers used the soles of their shoes to hit the back of practitioner Ms. Li Shiying's head, causing many swollen bumps. They also handcuffed her. They pulled the handcuffs and dragged her around the room. The handcuffs dug deeply into her wrists, which bled non-stop. They also grabbed her by the hair and banged her head against the wall. Her hair was pulled out handful by handful. Her head was covered with blood and the white skin of her scalp was exposed. They also used a hard stick to press her anklebone and rolled it back and forth

On October 12th, 2007, Ren Baokun, a Falun Gong practitioner, was detained by the Zhuozhou City Public Security Bureau. On October 31st, he was sentenced to forced labour for one-and-a-half years. Police officer Wang Hongen slapped Ren Baokun's face without stopping over 20 times. Mr. Ren bled from his mouth and nose. His mouth was severely injured and his ears rang as a result of the beating. Two or three days later, both his ears turned purple and black. Wang also covered his mouth with a towel so that Mr. Ren was unable to breathe or speak. Ren Baokun was tortured so badly that he shivered all over. On the evening of October 17th, he was detained in Zhuozhou Detention Centre. When he protested by going on a hunger strike, the police force-fed him twice.

On November 28th, 2007, the Chinese Communist Party- controlled court in Lingyuan City, Liaoning Province, secretly held hearings for nine Falun Dafa practitioners, without notifying their families. Some of the tried practitioners hired lawyers, but not all of the lawyers attended the proceedings. Ms. Li Jingfang's lawyer received threats that his licence to practise law would be revoked if he appeared in court. He did not dare appear in court.

In October 2000, the police arrested Mr. Liu from his home. In detention and sent to Shuangkou Forced Labour Camp. He was forced to labour for more than ten hours per day and tortured by having basins of cold water poured over his head, causing him to lose control of his lower limbs. He was in extreme pain and could not stand up. Even after his release from a labour camp Mr. Liu did not recover. He died on November 13th, 2007, at age 41, leaving his wife and ten-year-old daughter.

Falun Gong practitioner Wang Yanjun is still being detained at the Ertaizi Detention Centre. Her case has been handed off to the local court. She started a hunger strike on December 1st to protest the persecution. Ms. Wang, along with other practitioners, was arrested by police at her house on October 9th, 2007. Police also ransacked her house. After Wang Yanjun was arrested, her husband was left to take care of their high school daughter.

Feng Kun, a student at Tianjin University of Commerce, was arrested on October 27th, 2007 because someone reported him for distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the facts about Falun Gong. He was released on November 2nd with outside help and returned to university on November 4th. However, Freshmen Division Party Secretary Zhao Shuai in the Department of Logistics Management, Yang from the university office, and personnel from the university 610 Office have consistently rejected him. Feng Kun attended classes despite the difficulties and explained the facts to the university authorities. Nevertheless, the authorities still revoked his registration.

Practitioners in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, have been tortured in a multitude of ways over the past few years. The tiger bench is one such torture method. This torture uses a modified steel chair. The chair seat is a thick steel plate. The original chair armrests are modified with a rounded metal barrier. Sitting on the chair is like sitting in a cage. There are foot shackles underneath each front chair leg, which clamp both feet tightly; a nylon rope is used to tightly tie the person up; the upper arms are tied tightly behind the back, both lower arms are forced to the front to reach armrests on both sides, then two hand straps are used to bind the lower arms to the armrests. The person is tied on the tiger bench like this for long time, while he/she is tortured and brutally beaten.

Mr. Zhang Yonglong, a Falun Gong practitioner, was arrested by police because he persisted in his belif in Truthfulness - Compassion - Tolerance. He was sent to to Wuwei Prison forced to do heavy labour during the day and watch movies that slandered Falun Gong at night. The guards also tried to force him to write the so-called "Repentance Statement" to renounce Falun Gong. When he refused to write the statement, he was handcuffed and hung from the ceiling for a whole morning. He was also shocked with electric batons. Oftentimes, people could smell burning flesh from the electric batons shocking people.

The death bed, a torture method originating from Jilin Prison, is frequently used to torture imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners at the Jilin Prison and Jilin Province Women's Prison. The death bed involves piecing together two twin-size beds and handcuffing or tying a practitioner's hands and feet onto the four opposite corners of the two beds. After the practitioner is tied up, the beds are moved in opposite directions and bricks are inserted between the two beds. Each brick adds severe pain and injury. Once tied to the death bed, the victim is unable to move her hands and legs. The beds can be pulled in various directions to cause additional pain and injury throughout the body. Blood circulation from the ankles and wrists are cut off as the muscles tear and bones break.

Ms. Tian Fang, a Dafa practitioner, was arrested in 2004 and sentenced to a four-year prison term. In Hohhot Prison, she was brutally persecuted by guards and inmates, because she did not yield to their pressure to renounce Falun Gong. They ripped off her clothes and forced her to stand naked in cold weather. They slapped her in the face and also used cigarettes to burn her face, electric batons to shock her, and toilet brushes to scrub her mouth.

Mr. Hu Zhiming is a Falun Dafa practitioner from Dandong City, Liaoning Province. He was a Masters candidate at the Beijing Air Force Headquarters. Because Hu Zhiming didn't give up his belief in Falun Gong, he was dismissed from his job and the military service and sent home in May 2000. Lately, he was reported to have been tortured so much that he lost his ability to walk independently, and then was again persecuted in the prison hospital afterwards. According to his family, Mr. Hu began a hunger strike on April 25th, 2006, to protest the persecution. More than a year and a half have passed. He was force-fed through the nose and tortured with other methods. The longest period of time he was tortured was seven or eight months in a row.

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Wang Xiaoran was on June 23rd, 2007 detained for over five months at the Jinan City Detention Centre by police from the 610 Office. Both of the 610 Offices in Jinan City and Shandong Province, the Public Security Office in Lixia, the Prosecution Office and the local court collaborated in sentencing Wang Xiaoran to an 8-year prison term. Wang Xiaoran has endured five months of torture. Her condition is serious, as she has a lot of blood in her urine and chronic irregular heartbeats. Her appeal is now in the hands of Jinan City's Second Criminal Court.

On the evening of December 15th, 2006, as usual, I called my parents in Beijing from my home in Los Angeles. To my surprise, my father told me in tears, "Your mother was arrested again." At 8:00 p.m. on December 15th, three policemen from the Shuangyushu Police Station in Beijing broke into their home. They ransacked the place and found some Falun Gong materials. Then they arrested my 64-year-old mother. This is the second time my mother was arrested since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999.

Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Qi Guiling was recently arrested by police. In the evening of September 3rd, 2007, Ms. Qi was arrested and a policeman slapped her and then handcuffed her. Police searched her place and confiscated her Falun Dafa books and some leaflets exposing the persecution. The police then dragged Ms. Qi and her sleeping husband, Mr. Zhang Yizhi, were sent to the Yishui County Detention Centre. Ms. Qi was sent to the Jinan Forced Labour Camp. Ms. Qi's mother was very concerned about her daughter's condition, but the police chased her off outside the police station and beat up her daughter-in-law.

Zhao Jin is a 37-year-old woman. She started to practise Falun Gong after the persecution began in July 1999. She had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but soon recovered after learning Falun Gong, She has been completely cured of schizophrenia. Everyone who knows her, including her work colleagues, witnessed this miraculous change. Recently Zhao Jin has been sentenced to a labour camp for one and a half years. Therefore, her employers went to the 610 Office several times to ask them to release Zhao Jin.

In 2001, China successfully landed the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games. Chinese officials promised better human rights as a condition for the bid, and then turned around to use it as a tool for justifying its persecution and suppression. I was imprisoned in Tuanhe Forced Labour Camp. Guard Yue Qingjin shouted at me, "You are against the bid for the Olympics. You don't love your country and resist transformation. Even if we kill you, we'll claim that you committed suicide." Several guards put me on a cotton quilt and tied my four limbs down with strips of fabric. They yanked the strips in four different directions, which caused terrible pain. They shocked me with electric batons, shouted at me and ordered me to give up my belief. When they saw that I was about to faint, they stopped and force-fed me with some water.

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Yu Jingxia was arrested on January 17th, 2004. After being tortured to the brink of death, she was released and monitored. After two months, even though she hadn't fully recovered, she was arrested again. In the Hebei Province Women's Prison, she was brutally beaten and subjected to brainwashing. She was on the verge of death numerous times, but she has refused to give up her beliefs. Ms. Yu has been on hunger strike many times to protest the persecution. Two months ago, she started another hunger strike to protest her three-year persecution. Her health is precarious, and her life is in danger.

Mr. Yu Ming, a Falun Gong practitioner, is currently detained at Masanjia Labour Camp in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. In order to force him to give up his belief in Falun Gong, he was tortured at Tuanhe Forced Labour Camp in Beijing in 2006, including being tied to a chair for three months, resulting in muscular atrophy all over his body and other severe physical damage. The guards in Beijing were unable to shake Yu's strong belief. They transferred Yu to Masanjia Labour Camp in Liaoning Province on May 21st, 2007. Because Yu's health was so severely damaged at Tuanhe Labour Camp he was transferred to the Masanjia Labour Camp Hospital after just a few days. He remains there today.

On October 24th, 2007, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Gu Daping went to the wash room without reporting to the labour camp guards. Wang Zhiming (male), the political instructor of the Specially Controlled Division, viciously struck Mr. Gu with a rubber club several dozen times. On October 15th, 2007, Mr. Li Qiusheng and Mr. Xu Kai were ordered to remain standing for a long period of time. Two weeks or so later, they were ordered to stand from 9:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. and subjected to sleep deprivation. Mr. Li's legs are badly swollen as a result. Zuo Tao, a labour camp division head, has viciously beaten numerous practitioners on the grounds that they did not write statements renouncing Falun Gong.

Ms. Zhang Xiaojing, 47 years old, was a doctor at the faculty hospital of Tongdianlan Factory in Baiyin, Gansu Province. In 1999, when Jiang Zemin's [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] regime began to persecute Falun Gong, she was dismissed by her work unit for practising it. She was sent to a forced labour camp twice and was detained several times. Her home was ransacked and she had money extorted from her. Ms. Zhang was nearly persecuted to death and her family has been torn apart.

Husband and wife, Mr. Xie Wutang and Ms. Tan Xiangyu, live in Changsha City, Hunan Province. Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began its persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, the pair have been imprisoned many times. They became homeless to avoid further arrests because they refused to renounce Falun Dafa and continued to expose the persecution. On July 14th, 2007, police officers arrested them. Mr. Xie, 66, was sentenced to term of four years and eight months. Ms. Tan, 60, was taken directly to the Hunan Province Women's Prison. Her relatives tried to see her many times, but the guards refused all visitation rights.

In May 2006, former prison staff member Huang Yongqiang saw practitioner Qin Hezhuang carrying a water basin. Without a word, Huang kicked the water basin out of Mr. Qin's hands and broke the basin. Mr. Qin said, "Do you call this humane treatment?" Huang was furious and immediately assaulted Mr. Qin with punches and kicks. He also used an electric baton to shock Mr. Qin's body, causing burns in many places. Huang shouted at Mr. Qin, "Now you know what humane treatment is." He forced Mr. Qin to acknowledge his words. When Mr. Qin refused to answer, Huang continued to torture him until he lost consciousness.

Little Pengpeng is six years old. He used to live with his dad, Sun Jinghuan and his mother, Yi Luju. However, his parents were arrested by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) police many times because they refused to give up practising Falun Gong. Again, this year Pengpeng will not see his mother for a long time. His father told him that his mother was arrested and taken to a brainwashing centre because she wrote a letter to the police saying that Falun Gong is good. Pengpeng's greatest wish is to be with his parents forever and for his parents to not be taken away again by the police.

In August 2007, in the No. 2 Division, practitioner Mr. Xu Yushan was on a hunger strike for over 10 days to protest the brutal treatment. In the beginning, the guards threatened, cursed, beat, and force-fed him. Afterwards, other guards to tortured Mr. Xu with the so-called "big hang up" method. They used tape to fasten a radio on top of his head, turned the radio to the highest volume, inserted earphones into his ears, and wrapped them tightly with the tape. They used cigarettes to burn his fingernails and electric batons to shock and beat him. Even after a whole day's torture, Xu Yushan did not give up. They then applied white sugar to the tip of his private part and put ants on it.

Ms. Xiao Guiying is 60 years old and has been detained for a long time in the Nanmushi Forced Labour Camp. For the past two months Ms. Xiao has been on a hunger strike, and now her hands and feet are extremely swollen and she is very weak and emaciated. According to insiders, if Ms. Xiao doesn't eat two consecutive meals, guards order three or four prisoners to pick her up and force-feed her. The equipment they use is never washed, so it is filthy and full of ants. Sometimes toilet waste water is used to dilute the food.

As practitioner Ms. Li Yanhua was leaving home on November 21st, 2007, she noticed a black car parked near her home and some passengers trying to cover their faces. She went to the street market to sell clothes. At around 11:00 a.m., two men came to Ms. Li's booth. They were policemen who said that they had some questions to ask her. The men forced Ms. Li into the black car and drove to her home, which they then ransacked and found Falun Gong leaflets. There were not enough leaflets to arrest Ms. Li. So, one officer went outside and returned with another bag full of materials. They then took Ms. Li to the Fushan Town Police Station.

On November 29th, 2007, Ms. Chen Jingjiang went to the Social Security Building in Jingzhou City with her husband to draw her pension. She was told that her pension payments had been deferred for six months. When she asked why, one of the employees told her that the decision had been made by the Jingzhou City 610 Office. Ms. Chen explained the truth about Falun Dafa to them. She told them there was nothing wrong with cultivating, and following the principles of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" to become a better person, and that it was unreasonable to defer her pension payments. Eventually, five officers from the 610 Office arrived and took Ms. Chen into custody. At present, her whereabouts are unknown.

On December 16th, 2004, Mr. Zhang Youjin went to Xifeng County to distribute leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong with fellow practitioners. He was arrested, sentenced to three and half years in prison, and detained in the Dongling Prison in Shenyang City. In October 2007, a guard notified Mr. Zhang Youjin's family that he was sick. Mr. Zhang's family was shocked to see him. He used to be very strong when he was first detained in the prison, his hair was very black and shiny, and there were not any wrinkles on his face. However, when his family saw him, he had to breathe oxygen through a tube in his nose, he was as thin as a skeleton, his hair was all white, he could not stand still, his hands were shaky, and he could not talk coherently. Guards said he was sick with tuberculosis, and they needed to pay 3000 yuan for treatment. Mr. Zhang Youjin died on October 22nd, 2007.

Ms. Song Yuhong, 53, started practising Falun Dafa in 1996 and benefited mentally and physically. She went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa after July 1999, when the persecution began. In 2001, she was arrested by 610 Office agents while distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the facts about Falun Gong. She was sentenced to two years of forced labour and suffered cruel torture in the Heizhuizi Forced Labour Camp. Guards shocked her with electric batons multiple times. She lost two teeth due to being severely beaten. Her internal organs were injured by all sorts of torture. Ms. Song died in August 2001 after returning home.

Falun Dafa practitioner Feng Renyu was secretly arrested by police in the middle of November, 2006. Since then she has been detained. She was forbidden to communicate with her family and neither was her family allowed to visit her. Her husband requested to see her many times and was refused every time. In June 2007, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agents from the Procurator's office brought so-called "charges" against her. She has been sent to the court. They plan to escalate the persecution and sentence her to prison. CCP officials have never stopped the persecution towards her. She has been detained 9 times since November 1999. Her home has been ransacked 3 times and for one and a half years she has been detained in a forced labour camp.

There are a few Falun Gong practitioners assigned to the general ward at the Masanjia Women's Second Forced Labour Camp who are made to do sewing work. They are forced to get up at 5:00 a.m. and are not allowed to finish working until after 11:00 p.m., without being allowed a rest at noon. They only get to eat carrot and cabbage soup. Guards use extremely cruel means to force the newly arrived Falun Gong practitioners to write the "three statements" to renounce Falun Gong. Wardens can be found sitting in the corridor and the only thing they can hear are the screams of Falun Gong practitioners being tortured.

On April 5th, 2006, Mr. Zhao Wenshan was taken into custody at his job by police because he continued to speak out for justice for Falun Gong. The police subjected him to all kinds of cruel torture. Consequently, his left arm and his legs were fractured and he developed widespread oedema. His legs were torn up, and the the wounds in his flesh gaped open. He could not walk on his own. On January 28th, 2007, he was transferred to Tailai Prison for further persecution.

Ms. Liu Xiaomei, 49, a peasant from Shandong Province, has been arrested, tortured and her home ransacked by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officers many times since July 20th, 1999, for her belief in Falun Dafa and the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." Her husband was also sentenced to nine years in prison because he exposed the facts about the persecution of Falun Dafa. During the past eight years of persecution, the CCP officials have extorted 14,000 yuan from her, calling it "fines."

On the afternoon of November 8th, 2007, Mr. Yang Libing, a practitioner from Yicun City, was arrested by Jinshan Police Station officials and detained. Mr. Yang escaped and become destitute and homeless. His wife, Ms. Chen Guiqiu, was arrested on the street and is now held in Jinshantun Detention Centre. The couple's son, who needs to go to college, and the boy's grandmother now have no means of support. Since the persecution began in July 1999, Ms. Chen has been taken into custody six times and detained for over 300 days. In July 2000, Mr. Yang was jailed in Yichun Forced Labour Camp for one and a half years. Over ten thousand yuan was extorted from the family by the local police before the two were released.

Ms. Xu Hui and her son, Mr. Cai Chao, both Falun Gong practitioners, were arrested in Beijing after they attempted to call attention to the persecution of Falun Gong by displaying a banner on July 20th, 2007, the eighth anniversary of the start of the persecution. They are now being brutally maltreated at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. Since her arrival at the camp, Ms. Xu, 57, has been staging a hunger strike and has refused to do any forced labour. Therefore, the guards force-feed her every day. Since she has high blood pressure, the guards are including blood pressure drugs in the force-feedings. Mr. Cai is forced to work in the Xinshou Branch, where he is able to sleep only three or four hours a night. One finger on his right hand is now covered with dead skin, and another finger on his left hand has abscessed.

On March 27th, 2004, Qidong County Police officials arrested me as I distributed informational materials that explained the truth about Falun Gong and exposed the persecution. They incarcerated me in Shaoyang County Detention Centre. After I started a hunger strike to protest the detention, the police force-fed me and injured my throat in the process. Six days later they transferred me to Qidong County Detention Centre. While there, they hung me by one arm on a window frame for half a day, with my feet not even touching the floor. In addition, they tortured me with the "tiger bench" for six consecutive days. I was later sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for my belief in Falun Gong and served my term at Changsha City Women's Prison.

Ms. Yi Xianmei returned home on April 20th, 2007 after serving three years of forced labour. She has suffered severe physical abuse and mental pressure due to persecution. Even now, her limbs are often in pain, itch and feel numb. When she has heartburn she vomits frequently and cannot seem to stop. Her entire family continues to struggle to make a living. Ms. Yi Xianmei was persecuted for eight years. The local police and 610 Office agents demanded a large amount of extortion money from her. She had no income for two years and four months because her employers refused to pay her. In 1999, Ms. Yi was also detained because she practises Falun Gong and forced to have an abortion.

After their arrests on October 12th, 2007, practitioners Ms. Xing Junhua, Ms. Gao Chunlian, Mr. Dong Hanjie and other practitioners were detained in the Zhuozhou City Police Department Criminal Police Section. They were each forced to sit on an "iron chair" for five days and six nights. Later they were transferred to the Zhuozhou City Detention Centre. At the time of this published article, they will have been detained for thirty eight days. Ms. Gao was tortured so severely that she was unable to stand. Her hands and feet were cold all the time and she needed other people to assist her when she used the toilet. She was barely recognisable and was on the verge of death. Mr. Dong showed the symptoms of high blood pressure and renal failure, and his legs were swollen.

Mr. Li Jiuzhi was a 77-year-old Falun Dafa practitioner. Since the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, five of the six members of his family had been arrested. His third granddaughter is currently in custody. In the past three years, Mr. Li lived a lonely life. He was gravely concerned about his loved ones who had to leave town to avoid arrest or who were wrongfully imprisoned. He had been tormented by worry, loneliness, and thoughts of his children and grandchildren. Local police officers constantly came to his home late at night to harass him, demanding cash and information on the whereabouts of his family members. Mr. Li had been under extreme pressure and suffered from a great amount psychological pain. On October 31st, 2007, Mr. Li Jiuzhi died.