Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Cui Zhanxiang, a resident of Liangtun Village, Botou City in Hebei Province, was arrested in May 2006. After he was forced to make a payment to the police, he was released. In June 2008, Mr. Cui was arrested again. Over a hundred residents of Liangtun Village then co-signed a letter asking the Botou City Court for his release. Police officers from the Botou City Department found out and threatened all of the co-signers of the letter, Mr. Cui's relatives, and their employers. Currently every entrance to the village is being blocked by people assigned by Xixindian Township officials. Everyone entering or leaving the village is investigated, in an attempt to keep information about the case from getting out. Currently Mr. Cui Zhanxiang is still being detained at the Botou City Detention Centre. Every day he is forced to perform physical labour and is physically abused.

On August 8th, 2008, Ms. Lu Yuying was in her home when ten officers from the Chengguan Police Department forced their way in and arrested her. They also confiscated her son's school computer. Ms. Lu ran a clinic to treat burn victims and saw patients with different degrees of scalds and burns every day. She would comfort the patient as she worked and sometimes played music similar to the sounds of nature to soothe the patient. The patients called her "Falun Gong Doctor" because she had an affable manner and always thought of their plight. This good person was detained numerous times for practising Falun Gong. Her family still does not know her whereabouts and they are very worried.

Ms. Zhang Shuchun, 44, has been repeatedly persecuted by local Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials and police in recent years, simply because she upholds her belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and strives to be a good person. Over the years she has been repeatedly detained and shuttled back and forth between detention centres and public security bureaus. Her home has been searched and her property confiscated several times. She was forced to wander about homeless due to the persecution. On January 8th, 2008, over 20 police broke into Ms. Zhang's home and forced her husband to disclose his wife's whereabouts.

Mr. Li Ruifeng, 44, used to suffer from second degree hearing loss. After practising Falun Gong, he made marked improvements. After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started the persecution in 1999, he appealed many times. He tried to use his own experience to tell others that Falun Gong is good and a righteous way. He was arrested many times, was sentenced to three years of forced labour, and suffered from torture such as the "back cuff," severe beatings, and being kept outside in winter. Mr. Li Ruifeng has been held in the Jining City Detention Centre for 11 months and has been sentenced to a 3-year jail term.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Yu Zhenhua, about 60 years of age, was a resident of Mazhuang Village, Wucheng County, Shandong Province. After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began its persecution of Falun Gong, local CCP personnel turned Mr. Yu's life upside down. The Wucheng County Police arrested him, attempted to brainwash him, extorted a large amount of money from him, and sentenced him to forced labour. During the brainwashing and other persecution, Mr. Yu suffered a relapse of his previous illnesses and died in the spring of 2008.

Between August 4th and 7th, 2008, four practitioners were in court to request medical treatment for the injuries that they sustained while in police custody. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) court in the Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, denied medical treatment to Ms. Liu Fengmei and Mr. Huang Cheng. A vertebra in Ms. Liu Fengmai's lower spine was shattered six years ago after she fell from the third floor at Majiashan Forced Labour Camp as a result of torture. A metal implant was installed to reinforce her spine. When the guards in the Jinzhou Detention Centre beat her, the metal was bent out of shape. Ms. Liu now suffers from intense pain and has difficulty walking.

During the Olympics and its Torch Relay, Falun Gong practitioners were tortured at their workplace, the Tangshan Sanyou Group Company, Ltd. The plant director organized the security department, the sub companies and other workshops to have meetings, and the Falun Gong practitioners were pressured from all levels of the plant. All plant directors are required to sign the guarantee statements to denounce Falun Gong. They monitored the practitioners to prevent them from appealing in public or participating in activities related to Falun Gong.

Mr. Chen Guibin was severely beaten by four security guards of Yinhe Cotton Works. He passed away on February 7th, 2001. Police continued to persecute his wife, Ms. Zhou Haitao, after her husband was killed. Police sent Ms. Zhou to Shangdong Province Forced Labour Camp, where she endured brainwashing for five months. She was a capable person, yet the persecution led her to suffer a mental collapse, making her unable to take care of her young child.

On August 11th, 2008, police officers went to "visit" and threaten practitioners door-to-door. When they arrived at Ms. Dai Xiaoling's building, the police asked, "Why won't you let us in? Do you have anything you are scared to let us see?" An eyewitness said four officers were in her home at around 6:40 p.m. They had found Falun Gong books and DVDs exposing the persecution of Falun Gong and questioned Ms. Dai viciously. At around 7:20 p.m. Ms. Dai was seen plummeting from her balcony on the third floor, and landing on a steel manhole cover. She was severely injured. There was a big crowd of people surrounding her. Later, someone saw her foot dangling from the police vehicle. A witness said her last words were: "They forced me. I had no way out. I want to see my husband."

On the morning of August 18th, 2008, a group of police officers stormed in Ms. Yang Jingfen's home located at the Liaohe Petroleum Field in Liaoning Province. After about two hours, Ms. Yang fell from the sixth floor. The group of police officers made sure she was dead, then left together. Another group of police came, claimed that Ms. Yang committed suicide, and demanded that her family immediately cremate her body. When the police broke into her home, she was alone. The police wouldn't let her family in. In the two hours before her death, what exactly did they police do to her? Whether Ms. Yang committed suicide or not, the group of officers should be investigated and take responsibility.

Mr. Wen Jingsong was sentenced to a four-year jail term in 2005. He was jailed at Dabei Prison in Shenyang City and Xihu Prison in Benxi City, where he was tortured. In 2006, he was released on medical bail. Wen Jingsong was in constant fear and pain, and passed away on July 31st, 2008 at age 38. In April 2005, his family members asked the police to release him after he was arrested. As a result, his father and wife were detained and sent to forced labour camps.

Ms. Ge Yulan, 77, was a Falun Gong practitioner from Shandong Province. In June 2008, six to seven police officers made a repeat visit to Ms. Ge's home and attempted to arrest her oldest daughter Ms. Zhao Yuhong, who had suffered numerous severe tortures for years because she refused to renounce Falun Gong. Despite Ms. Zhao's absence, the officers ransacked Ms. Ge's home without showing any official documents. They took away Falun Gong books. Afterwards, the authorities stopped Ms. Ge's monthly army pension of two hundred yuan, thereby cutting off her living allowance. With so much worry, she developed a serious illness and died on August 3rd, 2008.

Mr. Wang Chongjun, 65, was a Falun Gong practitioner from Beijing. On June 20th, 2008, Mr. Wang's family received notices sent from Beijing Tuanhe Forced Labour Camp, saying Mr. Wang Chongjun had been sentenced to two years of forced labour. Guards in the camp injected Mr. Wang with an unknown drug that caused him to become emaciated. The camp authorities saw that he was dying and quickly released him. He skin had turned yellow from the drug. His family picked him up and took him to the hospital for an operation. Mr. Wang died on the afternoon of August 23rd, 2008. His wife was transferred to the Shanxi Province Forced Labour Camp right before the Olympics. She still does not know of her husband's death.

On August 19th, 2008, Ms. Wu Meiyan died after nine years of severe persecution. When she was jailed in Heilongjiang Province Women's Prison guards kicked practitioners in their faces, all over their bodies, and stomped on their feet while wearing high heels. Ms. Wu's 76-year-old mother is still detained for practising Falun Gong, and her husband, also a practitioner, has been locked up in Jiamusi City Prison for nearly seven years.

Ms. Yang Jizhi, 65, went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. She was subsequently detained in the Shuangcheng City Detention Centre, where guards forced her to kneel down while they whipped her. She was detained for a total of 11 months, and released in August 2000. Ever since then she was forced to live away from home to avoid being arrested. In 2005, she was arrested and detained in Daqing City. Her daughter Ms. Zhang Tieyan, also a practitioner, was tortured to death. The death of her daughter severely affected Ms. Yang's mental and physical health. She became very thin, and died far away from home on June 12th, 2006.

Mr. Liu Hongtao, 39, went to Beijing to appeal against the persecution of Falun Gong in 2000. After then he was persecuted severely. On February 22nd, 2003, Mr. Liu was arrested and detained in the Harbin City Second Detention Centre. He was tortured in all sorts of ways during his interrogation and injected with unknown substances. He was soon sentenced to three years in prison. When he was taken to Xinjian Prison, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis in both lungs, and prison officials refused to admit him. Mr. Liu never got better. His family tried to have him treated, but detention centre officials delayed treatment repeatedly. He was on February 21st, 2006, when his term ended. Because his treatment was severely delayed, Mr. Liu's condition did not improve after returning home, and he died on August 17th, 2008.

After suffering many years of persecution, Mr. Cai Pengshun, a 74-year-old practitioner from Menghai County, passed away in his home on March 5th, 2008. On February 12th, 2006, three groups of police officers were dispatched to harass Mr. Cai Pengshun and his family. They ransacked Mr. Cai Pengshun's home and took all the Falun Gong books and leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong. A few days later, police used intimidation and coercion to put pressure on Mr. Cai and his wife while he was ill in bed, which made his condition worsen. Mr. Cai's wife Zhu Cai'e was imprisoned in a labour camp for two years.

Husband and wife Zhang Xingguo and Zhang Shuqing are Falun Gong practitioners. For many years now, they have been forced into homelessness in order to avoid persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). After the CCP began its persecution of Falun Gong, Mr. Zhang has been targeted by the police many times because he tells people about his positive experiences with the practice. Once when he was detained, he went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. As a result, the guards pulled his hair, slammed his head against the wall and then brutally force-fed him. Mr. Zhang's mouth bled profusely and he lost a lot of hair. Ms. Zhang Shuqing was arrested for distributing fliers about Falun Gong and the persecution and imprisoned for two years at the Shuanghe "Re-education" Camp.

Ms. Zhang Lianying is a Falun Gong practitioner who resides in Chaoyang District, Beijing. In July 2008, she was secretly taken to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. Other practitioners were taken there with her. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agents were afraid that international reporters would try to investigate who was being incarcerated during the Olympics, so they transferred these Falun Gong practitioners to an unknown location. Due to the Olympics, on April 20th, 2008, Ms. Zhang Lianying and her husband, Mr. Niu Jinping, were arrested at the door of their home.

In July and August of 2008, officers from the Shiyan City Police Department in Hubei Province persecuted practitioners and ransacked their homes, using "maintaining security for the Olympics" as an excuse. Around June 19th, 2008, practitioner Ms. Liu Haiyan, a teacher, was arrested and detained because she allegedly distributed and posted Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution and was caught on a security camera. The police tried to force her to renounce Falun Gong by saying that the bonuses of all the teachers in her school would be cut if she refused.

On August 15th, 2007, Clearwisdom.net published a report on Shan Zhenchang, a older man in his sixties, who was severely beaten by city policeman Du Zhanyi, and was in critical condition. The authorities didn't want to bear the responsibility for his impending death, so they released him. The examining doctor found injuries to Mr. Shan's head, dangerously high blood pressure at levels over 200, injuries to his chest and blurred vision. In June 2008, Mr. Shan died as a result of the severe beating.

Drugs are mixed with drinking water and food, and sometimes even injected into fruit. After eating these foods, the practitioners have reactions after thirty minutes, and suffer symptoms such as headaches, swollen eyes, fatigue, sleepiness (some people still felt tired and lacked energy after sleeping over ten hours), difficulty breathing, symptoms of angina pectoris, irritability and anguish. This was the reason why some Falun Gong practitioners who were healthy before seemed to have serious illnesses after being detained here for some time.

Guard Yang Bowen (male) beat practitioner Mr. Wei Guanghua until he was no longer able to walk because of a hip injury. Yang Bo (male) is a section leader who has boasted about being a key person in the torture of practitioners. He has tortured Mr. Cai Lirong and locked him in a small cell for a long time until Mr. Cai became mentally confused. In order to brainwash practitioners, guards also make use of a boom box turned on high volume that plays fabricated stories slandering Falun Gong. They also sometimes punish practitioners by forcing them to stand upright for long periods of time until their feet are swollen. The cursing and beating of practitioners has become routine.

According to inside sources, nearly 5000 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested and persecuted in Liaoning Province in July this year. In Tangshan City, Hebei Province, a family of five Falun Gong practitioners, Ms. Zhang Yueqing, husband Mr. He Yixing, their two daughters and one son-in-law, were recently arrested. Their homes were ransacked and their property and cash totalling over 600,000 yuan were confiscated. A happy and harmonious family was torn apart due to the persecution.

Mr. Tan Zhiyang was detained nine times after the persecution started in July 1999 and had to leave his job. On May 14th, 2004, the police arrested Mr. Tan and sentenced him to five years in prison. He was tortured until he was injured all over his body, his lower back showing an incision-like wound, and he almost died. On February 17th, 2008, the Prison Administration notified Mr. Tan's family to pick him up. Only two days later, on February 19th, 2008, he died at the young age of 36. His family visited him one month before his death. He told them his lower back felt very uncomfortable, and he had many injuries.

On September 12th, 2007, police arrested Ms. Su Changlan, 51, along with 20 other practitioners. Soon after, the Jining City Zhong District Police Department sentenced Ms. Su to three years of forced labour, and they planned to take her to the Jinan Women's Forced Labour Camp. Due to brutal mistreatment, Ms. Su became suddenly ill with hepatitis, and she was rejected by the labour camp. Despite Ms. Su's severe condition, police officers still came to her home to harass her, which caused huge mental pressure. She became worse and worse, and after being hospitalized for a month, she still had not recovered. She died in March 2008.

Mr. Zhao Peijie was from Rongcheng City, Shandong Province. He was detained in a mental hospital by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for two years and became mentally ill as a result. Moreover, he was forced to take some medicine which destroyed his central nervous system. Afterwards, he wandered around for several years. On June 28th, 2008, when his younger sister was getting married, he passed away in the wilderness at the age of 32.

In recent days, a group of police officers from the Chaocheng Police Station in Shen County, Shandong Province have arrested many Falun Gong practitioners from Wang Village of Chaocheng Town. Practitioner Qing Yun from that village has been sent to the Shen County Detention Centre. The police claimed that she would not be released until the Olympic Games are over. Previously Ms. Song Qiuping had been sentenced to three years of forced labour.

Mr. Yue Zhongsheng, an associate professor at the Civil Aviation University of China, has suffered severe brutal torture many times for practising Falun Gong. Because co-workers suspected him of having distributed materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong on the campus, they reported him to the police and he was arrested and sentenced to forced labour. He was tortured at the Shuangkou Forced Labour Camp in Tianjin City. Eight of his ribs were broken because of brutal beatings. Moreover, his superiors at the University fired him.

Falun Gong practitioner, Mr. Han Huiliang, from Tangshan City, Hebei Province, has a mentally retarded, 21-year-old son. His son has a difficult time pronouncing his words clearly and needs to be looked after at all times. Since his father's recent arrest on July 29th, 2008, the boy has been repeating out loud the same sentence over and over again: "I want my daddy, I want my daddy!"

Ms. Huo Yinggui, 53, went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong in October 1999, and was sent to a detention centre. She was later sentenced to one and a half years in a labour camp. Ms. Huo suffered brutal torture. When she was released home, she was continually harassed by local officials, and lived in constant fear. Since 2005, Ms. Huo had been homeless and destitute since then to avoid further persecution. She was traumatized to such an extent that the sight of a police car or sound of siren would fill her with fear. Under such pressure, she could not eat and began to lose weight. In 2007, she was diagnosed with lung cancer and died on July 8th, 2008.

The Olympic Charter states that the Olympic spirit requires "mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." However, the Olympic Games in Beijing has been a time of hardship for the vast number of Falun Gong practitioners in China. The Chinese Communist Party has not only excluded practitioners from participating in the Olympics, it has escalated the suppression of practitioners in the months leading up to the Games, all in the name of using the Olympics to glorify itself. Zhou Yongkang, a member of the standing committee of the Politburo, Secretary of the Central Political and Judiciary Committee, and director of the Central Office for the Comprehensive Administration of Public Security, issued orders for a "strike-hard campaign" against Falun Gong practitioners earlier this year.

I travelled over 500 kilometres on a journey lasting 18 hours and captured photos of Wumaping Prison in Leshan City, Sichuan Province. Of special note is the first photo. It shows practitioners being forced to stand facing a wall in the blistering sun. This is a common form of torture, where practitioners are forced to stand for very long periods of time, and are beaten if they move or even flinch.

On July 14th, 2008, approximately ten police officers suddenly burst into the apartment of practitioners Mr. Yao Tiebin and Ms. Zhang Fenrong. The police started to confiscate Mr. Yao's private property. When Mrs. Zhang asked the police why they were confiscating her family's belongings without cause, and which law they violated to cause the police to search their home, the police started to beat Mr. Yao and Mrs. Zhang. Without answering her questions, one of the officers said to them, "The state [Chinese Communist Party] doesn't allow you to practise Falun Gong. If you practise Falun Gong, then you violate the law." On the evening of July 14th, they both were beaten by the police until their faces were swollen and black and blue.