Recently, the Domestic Security Division and city police departments worked together on a series of persecution incidents against Falun Gong practitioners. On April 9th, 2009, in a joint effort with the Airport Road Police Station, officers ransacked the home of Ms. Xia Shuying. They confiscated large quantities of personal items and arrested her. On April 10th, police ransacked Ms. Liang Feng's home. They took Ms. Liang's son's computer.

In June 2008, practitioner Mr. Du Ziguo was posting leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong near Baihu Township in Huangmei County, Hubei Province. Someone reported him and he was arrested by police. On January 14th, 2009, he was given an eight-year sentence by the Huangmei County Court. Mr. Du Ziguo appealed the verdict, but the Huanggang City Intermediate Court ignored Mr. Du's request to hire a lawyer and upheld the original sentence without ever holding a trial. Mr. Du Ziguo is now being detained at an undisclosed location.

I was taken to the Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison on September 27th, 2003. Every morning, from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., we were forced to run laps without a rest except for one toilet break. After two days of running, my legs became so sore that I could barely walk. On the third day, I knew I was innocent and, as a practitioner, should not be treated like that. I refused to run and cried "Falun Gong is good." Wang Xiaoli, the deputy chief of the training centre in the prison, dragged me out of the line, pushed me into a corner, forced me to squat facing a wall, and whipped me fiercely with surgical tubing. I protested that the beating was illegal, but she continued whipping me and said, "I will beat you."

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Xu Fengzhi was cruelly beaten by police from the Chifeng Police Department. Five strong police officers stepped on her body and beat her. When she became unconscious they poured cold water on her face until she regained consciousness. All of the skin on her back was burned with electricity. I saw the black thick scars covering her back. Another practitioner, whose name was unknown to us, was hung up and tortured. The rope was pulled so tight around her abdomen that her skin was oozing pus.

On April 17th, 2009, the Jinzhou City Police Department, Anti-cult Association, Guta District Political and Judicial Directory, Guta District Police Department and the 610 Office, Tienan Police Station, and Zhongtun Police Station collaborated to arrest fourteen practitioners. They are all currently detained in the Guta District Police Department. Police also broke into practitioner Li Yuxia's home and ransacked it on April 17th. They arrested Ms. Li and her daughter Qi Lin, and took them to Guta District Police Department for interrogation. The three were released later that day.

On August 14th, 2003, police broke into Ms. Zhang Yuhua's home and ransacked it. Then they forcibly arrested Ms. Zhang. One policeman beat her until she fell to the ground, then two others pulled her up and continued to kick and beat her until she lost consciousness. The beatings by the police caused Ms. Zhang's whole body to swell and her eyes to be red and painful. They also kept tearing. After she was released, she went to get a physical examination. She was told that she had permanently lost her vision in her left eye. Her feet and legs were still bruised and the beatings caused her to develop tuberculosis in the knee.

Pei County 610 Office agents arrested Mr. Pan Xujun, an outstanding teacher, in September 2002. Mr. Pan was arrested for his belief in practising Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. The Pei County Court sentenced him to nine years in prison in 2003, despite lack of evidence of any wrongdoing. Mr. Pan has been held at Hongzehu Prison in Jiangsu Province for more than seven years, where he was savagely tortured. His life is in danger.

On March 31st, 2009, while Ms. Li Shihong was coming home a group of people suddenly appeared and took her away. Two hours earlier, Ms. Song, Ms. Li's mother was also arrested. Three months prior, Mr. Lu Qiqi, Ms. Li's husband was also arrested. After Ms. Li was taken away security police went to her 12-year-old son's class and pressured him to tell them who had been in contact with his mother.

Four elderly practitioners were arrested for distributing Falun Gong fliers in Qingong County. They were taken to the Laocheng Detention Centre where they remain to this day. Agents of the county court and judiciary department, as well as the local police, are planning to sentence each of them to long prison terms. Their families are very angry that their loved ones were arrested and detained.

Under the pretence of visiting her, the police arrested Ms. Zhao Yabin at home. Later, Lunan District Court opened a court session to try her. When she was being taken out of the court, Sun Jian, a staff member of the court, pushed her down from very high stairs. As a result, she was badly injured and could not move. She was carried to Tangshan City People's Hospital. After a CT scan, she was diagnosed with a lumbar vertebra dislocation femur necrosis. Later, she was transferred to an orthopaedic hospital where she was given the same diagnosis.

Ms. Shi Yongqing, 35, became healthy throught practising Falun Gong by living according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Yet, the township Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary abducted her and later sentenced her to forced labour. She died on January 9th, 2004, as a result of gross abuse and mistreatment at the hands of personnel from the police department, the Political and Judiciary Committee, and the 610 Office as well as local officials.

Mr. Liu Yongjin was sentenced to seven years in Taian prison, and sent to Ward V because he had not "transformed." It was said that in solitary confinement, the prison arranged a dozen or so inmates to guard him. They watched him closely around the clock, and allowed him to sleep for only two to three hours a day, and eat just two small buns (one half each morning and evening and one at noontime) for his meals. Even water was rationed. With his body already badly weakened, Mr. Liu was forced to march in military steps for four hours a day in the prison courtyard. The duration of his solitary confinement has long exceeded that permitted by the prison regulations, but the police officers keep extending it because he refuses to give in.

On April 1st, 2009, police rushed into Mr. Zhang Youqing's home and arrested him. At the police station the police gave Mr. Zhang a glass of water. Mr. Zhang felt that his throat had a dry and burning sensation when he drank the water. That night, Mr. Zhang could not eat anything. He visited the toilet constantly. For the next two days, Mr. Zhang had vision and memory losses and was confused at times. On the morning of April 4th, he still could not urinate or have a bowel movement. He discharged blood when he tried to defecate. He suspects that the police poisoned him when they gave him the water to drink.

On February 18th, 2004, Mr. Guo Zhengpei, 48, was arrested while he was at his workplace. He was taken to Shayang Forced Labour Camp, where he was brutally tortured until he could not get out of bed and then was taken to the hospital. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis and accumulation of water in the lungs. The hospital decided to operate on him the next day to take out the water. The forced labour camp was afraid of him dying from the operation, so they notified his family to pick him up. After returning home, Mr. Guo continued to have no energy and kept losing weight each day. He passed away on April 25th, 2009.

Practitioner Mr Song Aichang was arrested by police on June 22nd, 2007. He has been detained in a detention centre for almost twenty months. He has been through three separate trials and re-trials, and is in the middle of his fourth trial. The defence lawyers of Song Aichang presented a co-signed letter to the Hebei Provincial High Court regarding the Shijiazhuang Intermediate Court's unjust actions and requested that the appeal hearings be held in a different court.

In 2000, my husband and I went to Russia. In 2001, I came back to China. I went to see a fellow practitioner who was just released from jail. Her home was monitored and therefore I was arrested by the police and put in jail. Another practitioner in my cell was often brutally beaten by the guards. When I first saw her, her face was badly swollen. It looked quite frightening. She was arrested when she went to a rural area to pass out flyers. A group of people brutally beat her. I was in jail for three months. My family spent a lot of money to get me out. My husband and I went back to Russia. We heard that state security in China was going to come to Russia to arrest me. I could not go back to China, and I did not have the legal status to stay in Russia. T

My name is Liu Xiaoling. I am 57 years old. In October 2004, the head of the 610 Office forcibly took me to the Tangshan City "Legal Education School," a brainwashing centre, and detained me there for 80 days. They burned my hands with fire and injected me with an unknown drug. They locked me in a room and stripped off my winter jacket and shoes. Then they opened the window to expose me to the freezing cold. For 20 days they forbade me from sleeping or using the toilet. They threatened that they would torture me to death and then tell the public that I killed myself. I was emaciated at this point from all the abuse.

Mr. Zhang Chunlin was an officer on the Hongguang Farm in Baiyilaga Township, Qianguo County, Songyuan City, Jilin Province. Because he remained steadfast in his belief in Falun Gong, he was persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In September 2008, he was injected with an unknown drug, causing a mental collapse. After the persecution of Falun Gong started on July 20th, 1999, Mr. Zhang was sentenced to one year in a forced labour camp because he went to appeal for Falun Gong. He was discharged from his post.

On April 25th, 2009, more than 10 policemen went to Mr. Dong Qingyou and his wife's home. They arrested the couple and took them to the Zhanqian Police Station. Ms. Li's younger brother went to the police station and asked them why they had made the arrest. A policeman said it was because the couple practised Falun Gong. Chen said that they found Falun Gong books and informational materials during their search. Mr. Dong's family said they would file a lawsuit for unlawful arrest. At about 7 p.m., Mr. Dong and his wife walked out of the Zhanqian Police Station and returned home.

When I was explaining the truth about Falun Gong to the people in my aunt's town I was reported by somebody and was arrested on August 11th, 2008 by police officers. The police said "How dare you promote Falun Gong here. We will send you to the hospital for the mentally ill and kill you by injecting you with poisonous drugs!" Then they demanded to know about the Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution I had with me. In the detention centre an officer slapped my face and then punched me in the jaw with all his might. They also trampled all over my chest. After they beat me for several rounds, my chin was swollen and I lost my hearing in my left ear.

67-year-old Professor Zhang Xingwu's family was notified that Mr. Zhang was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment. On March 31st, Shizhong District Court in Jinan City tried Mr. Zhang Xingwu. They not only prevented Professor Zhang Xingwu's defence lawyer from attending the proceedings, but also keep his family from being present in the courtroom. In addition, 70 armed, anti-riot police and nearly 200 other officers were deployed around the courthouse. One of Mr. Zhang's relatives, Ms. Liu Lijie, was detained for fifteen days and later sentenced to 21 months' forced labour just because she wanted to attend the session.

Six Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, on April 21st, 2009. More than 20 police suddenly surrounded Ms. Liao Xiaohong's vendor booth and took Ms. Liao Xiaohong, Mr. Shi Jiaoyu, and a visiting male practitioner away under duress. They snatched Mr. Shi's bag and found the key to his apartment, took the bag with them, and opened the door. The police took away everything, including a computer, and Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution. They also looted 74,000 yuan in cash and a bank deposit book worth over 20,000 yuan.

On April 9th, 2009, Beijing practitioner Mr. Liu Yujian was released from Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp in Hebei Province and sent to his original residence in Xinjiang. Because he was tortured in the labour camp, Liu Yujian was extremely weak and all his bodily functions were near failure. On the train, he was unable to take in any food or water and had to depend on an intravenous injection to keep him going all the way to his destination. Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp turned an originally healthy man into a person near death.

On February 6th, 2003 police arrested Mr. Liu Leiwan because he practised Falun Gong. A court sentenced him to six years in prison. During his detention in Nanchang Prison he was tortured in many ways and had to work many hours, resulting in blood in his urine every day. He became very weak. On February 6th, 2008, his family was told to take him home. He died two months later. After his death, the 610 Office threatened his family, so they would not allow Falun Gong practitioners to pay their final respects at his home.

I was taken to the Beijing Dispatch Division on October 18th, 2007. The head guard ordered five drug addicts and prostitutes to attack me and try to coerce me to write the guarantee statement to renounce Falun Gong. I refused. They forced me to squat. More than ten officials tried to brainwash me. They wouldn't let me stand up and wouldn't let me use the toilet. I went on a hunger strike to protest the abuse, and the head guard force-fed me water and food. The police instructed the five criminals to write vicious and slanderous words against Falun Gong on a piece of paper. Against my will they pressed my fingerprints on the paper, claiming I had written it, and then taped it to my body.

Mr. Chen Naiye was again seized by police on March 19th, 2002, when he was distributing Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution. He was taken to the Shanwei Detention Centre and subjected to brutal tortures. His chest became very swollen after numerous beatings. On July 19th, 2002 he was taken to the Sanshui Forced Labour Camp. Because he refused to be "reformed," the camp guards tortured him savagely, and he lost consciousness. The guards stuffed him into a freezer and prepared to cremate him. He regained consciousness and shouted aloud for help. When his family finally took him home on October 12th, 2002, he was barely alive. Thereafter police frequently went to his home to harass him. Chen Naiye died on March 4th, 2009, at the age of 63.

Practitioners Ms. Yang Shujun, Ms. Lang Ming, and Ms. Li Muyan were savagely persecuted in the Heilongjiang Women's Prison. Guards deprived Ms. Yang of sleep for extended periods of time, made her stand for hours on end, and forced her to watch videos defaming Falun Gong. Her hair has since turned grey, and she is currently clinging to life. Guards also deprived Ms. Lang of sleep for seven days. Ms. Li has lost feeling in her legs due to the prolonged periods of forced standing and sitting. She has also suffered memory loss because of the sleep deprivation and psychological torture.

Ms. Li Yun and Ms. Zhang Ling were arrested on April 8th, 2008 by police. They were transferred to Hubei Women's Prison after a year in detention. Recent information indicated that Ms. Zhang Ling had been tortured, and her hair had turned white. Her entire body is swollen, and she is unable to stand on her own; she appears to be near death. Prison director Zhang Hongyu forced Ms. Li to sign a document stating that she would stop practising Falun Gong. He ordered prison guards to tie her to a "Dead Man's Bed".

In the beginning of 2009, the Qianguo County Court in Songyuan City, Jilin Province secretly tried practitioner Mr. Xu Peng. The court also issued heavy sentences of 8 to 12 years in prison to six practitioners. The practitioners appealed to the Songyuan City Intermediate Court. The relatives of the six practitioners hired more than ten defence lawyers. But the court did not notify the lawyers of the second trial date; only two lawyers made it to Songyuan overnight. During the trial, practitioner Shao Changpu told the judge that the police force-fed him four bottles of mustard oil, and he wanted to charge the police for what they did. However, the judge upheld the previous sentences and wrapped up the trial hastily.

Since the 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2007, CCP secretary Zhou Qi and Mayor Liu Xinchi of Xiantao City, Hubei Province, have been actively arresting Falun Gong practitioners. Under their command, the police arrested fifteen practitioners. Eight of the practitioners were sentenced to three to four years. Many of the practitioners are in critical condition as a result of torture. Ms. Chen Muying, in her 50s, was taken to the Wuhan City Brainwashing Centre on September 25th, 2007, then imprisoned at the Xiantao City Detention Centre for a year. She was sentenced to four years in prison at the end of 2008. She is now imprisoned at the Hubei Province Women's Prison.

In January 2004, several police officers broke into my home and took all my Falun Gong books and more than 10,000 yuan that I had saved for my son's wedding. Due to the extreme brutality of the police one of the bones under my right knee was broken, causing me to suffer extreme pain. In August 2004, I was sentenced to prison and was sent to Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison. I suffered indescribable tortures there. Practitioners beaten every single day and not allowed to have a good sleep at night. Again in April 2007 i was arrested and taken to the prison. They often put unknown drugs into my food. I was also forced to watch TV programmes that slandered Falun Gong.

Elementary schoolteacher Ms. Zhao Minghua and her husband, Mr. Li Yankui both Falun Gong practitioners, were arrested and tortured in October 2007 by Qianan Domestic Security police. On December 21st, 2007, the couple was again arrested and tried by the court. While they were held in the detention centre, they were both tortured by means of electric shock, long periods of sun exposure, and excessive physical activity. The police deceived and abused them and forced confessions from them.

On April 14th, when seventy-something Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Shen Jin'e was visiting her relatives, four plain clothes police broke in and forcibly searched the house. Ms. Shen asked them to show their legal documents. One of them quickly flashed some papers saying, "You broke the law. You will be sentenced and thrown into prison. Now you may find your lawyer!" Police forcibly dragged Ms. Shen out of the door. They dragged her to the side of a car which carried no police licence plate. They took Ms. Shen to the police station. Ms. Shen asked loudly, "What law did I break?" One officer said, "We have no choice. Our boss asked us to do this."

On the eve of the tenth anniversary of the "April 25th" incident, the Chinese Communist Party agents again harassed and forcibly arrested Falun Gong practitioners. On April 23rd, 2009, many practitioners in Huairou District, Beijing were harassed. The campaign of searching and arresting was launched by the Public Security Bureau's 610 Office, local police stations and the Town's Street Integrated Management Office together. No legal procedures were followed and it was conducted by only plain-clothes police.

I was sent to the No.2 Women's Forced Labour Camp of Shandong Province twice and was persecuted there. I have witnessed and personally experienced how the policemen "transform" and torture Falun Gong practitioners. The labour camp is full of lies, cheating and evil. They first separate Falun Gong practitioners, prevent them from contacting anybody, and send two former practitioners to monitor them, whose purpose it is to attempt to force practitioners to renounce Falun Gong. If the practitioners refuse to be "transformed," they prevent them from sleeping, and make them stand facing the wall for physical punishment. I was tortured in that manner, was not allowed to sit for 24 hours a day.

Currently, more than 70 practitioners are being detained at Suihua Forced Labour Camp. All practitioners imprisoned in the forced labour camp are first subjected to at least three months of brutal persecution. Regular inmates are manipulated into brutally torturing, beating, and insulting the practitioners. Practitioners are not allowed to sleep for a long time and have to endure military training and physical punishment. Usually, one guard and two inmates watched and tortured one practitioner at a time. They ordered the practitioners to recite the forced labour camp rules and write the three statements to renounce Falun Gong.

On April 8th, 2009, Ms. Ni Cuixia was arrested by police when she told the facts of Falun Gong to the public. Ms. Ni's daughter went to the police station and asked to see Liu Jun, the person responsible for her mother's arrest, to request a visit with her mother. But Liu refused to see the daughter. On April 15th, Ms. Ni's daughter went to Liu's house. Liu's wife told her that she had the wrong address. Then about twenty police officers rushed out with bats, long knives and batons. They beat her badly.

On March 31st, 2009, Mr. Yang Guoshu and his family were arrested by more than ten police officers. The family are all Falun Gong practitioners, including Mr. Yang's wife, his eldest son and second son. On that day, four of his relatives who were visiting were also arrested. One of them was released after being extorted out of 500 yuan. Officers from the Shulan City Huan Cheng Police Station and Beicheng Police Station ransacked Mr. Yang's home, and took away six computers and more than six thousand "yuan" in cash.

In November 2004, Ms. Yang Shujun along with other Falun Gong practitioners put up over a hundred posters in many public places. The posters had "Falun Gong Is Good" or "Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance Is Good" on them. Police arrested over twenty practitioners including Ms. Yang. Many practitioners were tortured, and some were tortured to death. Ms. Yang was tortured for seven days. The police burned her with cigarette butts, covered her head with plastic bags to nearly suffocate her, hung her by handcuffs, beat her, and injected her with drugs. She was sentenced to twelve years in prison. In June 2006, she was taken to the Harbin Women's Prison where she was repeatedly beaten and cut by other inmates.

Shanghai Women's Forced Labour Camp forces those who have given up Falun Gong to communicate with practitioners who were recently "transformed." The practitioners endure brainwashing as well as physical abuse in order to weaken their faith. If practitioners didn't "transform," the guards instructed inmates to physically abuse them by forcing them to stand for periods as long as 16 hours, causing practitioners to suffer from high blood pressure. Many practitioners were "transformed" under these conditions with an unwilling heart.

Currently, under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule, many ridiculous events have occurred, especially in dealing with the persecution of Falun Gong over the last ten years. Under pressure from the CCP, the judicial and public security agencies have turned into pawns and accomplices for the persecution of practitioners. On March 25th, 2009, the lawyer defending practitioners Mr. He Yixing and Ms. Zhang Yueqin, husband and wife, filed a complaint against a branch of the Lubei Public Security Bureau in Tangshan City. The lawyer used legal arguments to point out the illegal actions of the judge in charge of Mr. He's second trial. These actions serve as a warning to those who have abandoned morality in the legal profession and turned the defendant into the plaintiff.

Wang Chouying, aged 11, and Wang Chouyue, aged 10, used to have a happy family life with their loving parents. In March 2000, their mother Niu Aiqing was arrested because she went to Beijing to appeal against the persecution of Falun Gong. She was detained for more than two months. Chouyue was less than six months old. In 2006, the boys' mother was arrested again by police and sent to the Wang Village Forced Labour Camp. The boys missed their mother so much that they often had nightmares and cried in their sleep. In 2007, unable to bear the torture in the forced labour camp, Ms. Niu made a successful escape. The boys haven't seen their mother for three years and they miss her very much.

Ms. Chen Zhenping, over sixty years old, is from Zhengzhou City of Henan Province. She was imprisoned by local policemen on July 9th, 2008, and was subsequently sentenced to prison for eight years on December 15th. Previously, Ms. Chen was detained many times. She was subjected to brainwashing and tortured and sent to a labour camp, where she was forced to work for over eighteen hours per day. She has two daughters. One daughter cannot return to China, while the younger daughter cannot go home.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Liu Yujian was taken to Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp in Hebei Province on February 28th, 2009. After a month of torture, all his bodily functions started to fail. His family was notified by the forced labour camp to take him to his home town in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. As a result of the violence used to force-feed him, both Mr. Liu's upper and lower teeth were loosened. The inside of his mouth was cut, and his throat, oesophagus, and nasal cavity festered with infection. He suffered a great deal each time he was force-fed and fainted several times. Mr. Liu had been on a hunger strike for over a month in Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp and the camp hospital force-fed him several times.

Police broke into the home of Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Zhao Xuemei and her husband, Sang Minggang on December 25th, 2008. The police took all cash and valuable personal belongings. The police transferred Mr. Sang to the Zhangqiu Labour Camp in Jinan City right before the 2009 Chinese New Year without telling his family. Ms. Zhao regained her freedom, but she did not return home to avoid further arrest. Their daughter now lives with her 70-year-old grandmother. A happy family's financial wellbeing and their family life was ruined because of the persecution.

In 2008, officials at the Hunan Province Women's and Children's Health Institute sent Falun Gong practitioner Ms. He Xianggu, a 47-year-old nurse, to a psychiatric hospital for persecution. Pressure from overseas forced the Institute to release her. However, the Institute officials began to persecute Ms. He financially. She was barred from her place of employment. At the same time, her personal savings were withdrawn from her bank, leaving her penniless.

Mr. Fu Ziming participated in a group tour held by the post office where he worked. On April 17th, 2009, at the Wuyi Mountain Scenic Area in Fujian Province, he wrote on a rock with crayon: "Falun Gong is good; Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good", which was recorded by a surveillance camera. That night, he was arrested at the hotel by the Scenic Administration District Police Station of Wuyi Police Department. Within two days, he died from torture.

Falun Gong Practitioner Mr. Liu Yujian was arrested on February 28th, 2009 again. He was taken to the Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp. He went on a hunger strike and was savagely force-fed several times. He is extremely weak. After hearing Mr. Liu was persecuted again, his sick mother was very worried. Mr. Liu has been married for twelve years, but for the past ten years since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has persecuted Falun Gong, he has not been able to spend much time with his wife.

Because he practised Falun Gong and would not give up his faith in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, Mr. Lei Zhengxia was forcibly taken away from his home by police on April 7th, 2009. Four or five days later, Mr. Liu and Ms. Chen, an elderly couple, came to the police station and asked the station to immediately release Lei Zhengxia. The head of the police yelled: "If today you cannot explain why he should be released, you are not allowed to leave here." Ms. Chen said, "Because Lei Zhengxia is a good person. He saved a life and did great deeds. The person who arrests a good person must be a bad person. Bad people have no right to lock up good people, and you must immediately release him."

In April 2009, the Weidu District Court in Xucheng City sentenced Ms. Chang Qing and Mr. Wang Haisong to three years in prison, while Ms. Shen Yuehong received a three and a half year sentence. Ms. Shen and Ms. Chang are being held at the Xinxiang City Women's Prison in Henan Province. During Ms. Shen's detention, she was severely tortured to the point that she became emaciated and developed fluid build-up in her thoracic cavity. When her condition worsened, guards dragged her to the local hospital by a shackle that was attached to her foot. She later developed symptoms of tuberculosis and is now very weak.