Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Shi Tongwen was a retired employee of the General Hospital of Lindong Mine Bureau in the Wudang District, Guiyang City, Guizhou Province. Since 1999, Ms. Shi and her family members have suffered brutal persecution. All of her family members, except her four-year-old grandson, were sent to a brainwashing center. During their illegal detention there, Shi Tongwen was on the verge of death due to the persecution. Later, she was paralyzed from torture and could not take care of herself. At 10 a.m. on May 6, 2007, she died at the age of 67.

In 2001, Ms. Shi's oldest son, Li Ping, and his wife, Fang Sha, were arrested on the street. Their son was just 14 months old. Fang Sha was sent to the Nanming District Detention Center in Guiyang City and then detained in the Zhongba Women's Forced Labor Camp of Guizhou Province. She was "transformed" there and abetted the perpetrators.

On April 18, 2005, personnel from the Public Security Section of the Lindong Mine Bureau arrested Li Ping on the street, forcibly took his son away from him, and gave the child to Fang Sha. Later, Li Ping's son was moved to Fang Sha's mother's home in Zunyi City, Guizhou Province. Since Fang Sha's mother is against Falun Gong, Li Ping has been separated from his son up to this point.

At around 11 a.m. on April 18, 2005, police from the Public Security Section of Lindong Mine Bureau took Ms. Shi Tongwen and three family members and sent them to the Lannigou brainwashing center in Jinzhu Town, Guiyang City, which is run by the Guizhou Provincial 610 Office. During the arrest, the police beat Mrs. Shi's son, Li Ping, until he was unconsciousness, then dragged him into a vehicle and took him to the brainwashing center. Li Ping was carrying his son, and the police forcibly took the child away, seriously traumatizing him. Shi Tongwen and her 67-year-old husband, Li Zhili, as well as their second son, Li Kunyuan, who was working in Guiyang, were arrested and sent to the brainwashing center in Lannigou. The couple's relatives did not know their whereabouts and called "110" to report that "they were abducted." The police responded that, because it was it was a "sensitive period," they did not need to follow legal procedures to deal with Falun Gong practitioners.

After arriving at the brainwashing center, Li Ping was beaten again until his head was covered in blood. Ms. Shi was so brutally tortured that she was critically injured. The guards sent her to the Guiyang City No. 3 People's Hospital in Ganyintang. The doctor found there was an area of extravasated blood the size of an egg in her brain and said she needed surgery.

At 5 p.m. on May 16, 2005, Shi Tongwen's husband, Li Zhili, was taken to the hospital to see her. At 7 p.m. the same night, her two sons, Li Ping and Li Kunyuan, were also brought to the No. 3 Hospital. The most vicious guards from the brainwashing center were present as well. The doctor said: "She is on the verge of death. Even with surgery, the best results would leave her paralyzed." Li Zhili and his sons did not agree to the surgery nor could they afford it. They firmly demanded Ms. Shi's unconditional release. Finally, around midnight, the 610 Office officials arrived and agreed to send Ms. Shi and her family members home. There were policemen in the vehicle in which they were sent home, and other police vehicles followed them as well.

The next day, the dean and the deputy dean of the General Hospital of Lindong Mine Bureau, where Ms. Shi worked, went to her home and said they were willing to provide the money for the surgery and even the funeral. They thought Ms. Shi was dying so they wanted to settle the matter quickly. They did not expect Ms. Shi to get better after she went home. On the fourth day, Ms. Shi's family requested that the hospital send a nurse over to inject saline solution, but the hospital refused their request. So Mrs. Shi's family sent her to the Guiyang City No. 2 Hospital for an examination, including an NMRI. Surprisingly, the amount of extravasated blood had shrunk from the size of an egg to the size of a thumb. In order to show off their achievement, the No. 2 Hospital videotaped what they saw. However, after Ms. Shi was hospitalized, her condition got worse every day. She had a constant high fever and she could not breathe. The hospital proposed that she have a tracheotomy. Ms. Shi's family could not afford a tracheotomy, and the hospital where she worked would not lend them the money. Ms. Shi's family had to take her back home. After she returned home, her health improved, but she was still paralyzed and totally dependent on her husband. At about 10 a.m. on May 6, 2007, she passed away.

On May 10, 2007, the reception lobby of the Beijing Women's Prison was cleaned until spotless and beautifully decorated with many fresh flowers. Several dozen inmates, four selected from each ward, met their family members there, each presenting a bouquet of carnations to their mothers, who had come for a visit. "The hall was filled with harmony and human emotion," which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had propagated. The Beijing TV Station (BTV) news crews filmed this "touching" scene.

However, this meticulously planned "touching" scene was nothing but a political ploy dictated to the prison officials from above. It was another deceptive trick, cooked up by BTV to lead people to believe the "humanitarian civilized management of prisons" by the CCP. This was done in response to the international community's increasing condemnations of China's human rights abuses.

Creating false news and directing farces are commonplace among China's journalists and government officials at various levels, all of whom are quite skilled in this respect. Yet, even as this farce was being carried out in the reception lobby, a hunger strike to protect human rights and to protest the persecution of Falun Gong had gone into its 73^rd day in the prison's Intensive Training Team. Practitioner Ms. Zhou Zi, in order to protest the battering and assaults inflicted on practitioners by the guards at will and the fact that the prison authorities pretended to investigate but actually harbored perpetrators, started a hunger strike on February 26, 2007. The hunger strike had lasted 81 days by May 17, 2007.

While the farce was going on, a guard near the film crew had with him a "report letter:" "Reporting the facts on how someone at the Beijing Women's Prison murdered Falun Gong practitioner Dong Cuifang." One paragraph in this letter stated, "The mother of Ms. Dong Cuifang (also known as Dong Cui) rushed to the Beijing Women's Prison that very night and saw large black and blue patches on her daughter's body that was also covered with cuts and bruises. The muscles on her right shoulder blade had become separated from the bone."

Ms. Zhou Zi has been on a hunger strike for 81 days.

At about 8:15 p.m. on April, 24, 2007, when Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Yang Qiong, Ms. Wang Shoujin, and another female fellow practitioner were taking a walk, they were cut off by Chen Chao, the deputy director of Comprehensive Administration Office, Fangting Neighborhood Committee, and another man, and were asked why they were walking together and how many truth clarification flyers they had posted. Chen Chao shouted to bystanders, "These are Falun Gong followers. Help me get them!" He used his cellphone to call the police, but the practitioners were able to break loose and ran away.

Later, Ms. Yang Qiong and Ms. Wang Shoujin were taken away by the Police Patrol Squad to be photographed. Neither of them cooperated, however, and each of them had to be held down by two officers to be photographed. The Police Patrol Squad said that Falun Gong was out of their jurisdiction, so the practitioners were subsequently transferred to the National Security Group of the Shifang City Police Department.

At the National Security Group, they were searched. Ms. Yang's cellphone, phone book, one book of Master Li's new articles, and an MP3 player were confiscated. They were asked what Falun Gong activities they took part in and with whom. They refused to answer any questions, so they were isolated in two separate rooms and interrogated. Police Li Yong was in charge of the interrogation of Ms. Wang. He asked many questions, but she refused to respond. Li Yong flew into a rage and punched her in the face. 

A political instructor interrogated Ms. Yang Qiang. He got out a book with Master Li's name on it and told her to read it, but she refused becfause it was not a real Falun Gong book but a fabricated one to deceive people. So he hit her head with the book. During the interrogation process, both Yang Qiang and Wang Shoujin were forced to stand for a long time, until early in the morning on April 25, 2007. Finally, they were released because the police could not get the information they wanted from the two practitioners.

On the morning of April 25, Ms. Wang went to the city's prosecutor, who had been her husband's employer before he passed away, to seek legal advice on how to sue the police. But when the receptionist learned that she was a Falun Gong practitioner, she said that all of the leaders were out for meetings and asked her to come back later. Only when Wang Shoujin said that she was the wife of a deceased employee of the prosecutor and wanted to talk to the supervisors did the receptionist call a director surnamed Liu, who said on the phone, "Yesterday, I was in the next room when she was interrogated. Ask her to see me tomorrow."

On April 26, 2007, Wang Shoujin said to Director Liu, "My husband used to work for you. As his surviving family member, I request some legal assistance from you."

But the director replied, "We took care of your child when your husband passed away and urged you not to practice Falun Gong, but you never listened to us. We lost the title of 'Advanced Institution,' which we kept for many years just because of you. You'd better get a boyfriend or buy a new apartment and move out."

Ms. Wang said, "My character improved and I became healthy, which all of you witnessed. Why should I give it up?" However, the director still refused to provide any legal assistance.

On April 27, 2007, Ms. Wang went to the Municipal Justice Bureau to consult with an attorney who said to her, "You'd better cooperate with the police department's investigation. Because practicing Falun Gong is not allowed by the government, we cannot take your case."

Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Li Mengshu, Ms. Hu Yuanzhen, Ms. Liu Jianrong, and Ms. Hu Lingying from Jianyang City, Sichuan Province were arrested by the police. Now, they are facing imminent unlawful sentencing. We appeal to everyone to help rescue them.

Practitioner Ms. Li Mengshu (close to 70 years old), Ms. Hu Yuanzhen (64), and Ms. Liu Jianrong (42) were illegally arrested on March 15, 2007 when they were clarifying the facts about Falun Gong in Zhoujia Town, Jianyang City. Practitioner Ms. Hu Lingying was arrested at her home on November 29, 2006.

Mr. Wu Tianhui, the 70-year-old husband of Ms. Li Mengshu, was so upset, sad and anxious about her arrest that he could not bear the trauma and passed away from stress and worry on April 22, 2007. Their children requested that their mother be allowed to go home to say a final farewell to their father. However, the National Security Officials denied this request.

The whole family of Ms. Hu Yuanzhen was frequently harassed. Her husband, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Li Guocai, was unlawfully sentenced to three years in May 2005, and he is still being detained at the Wumaping Prison, Muchuan County, Leshan City. The day before yesterday, Ms. Hu Yuanzhen's two daughters took a stand for their mother and demanded from the authorities that their mother be released immediately.

Ms. Liu Jianrong had been suffering from late-stage stomach cancer when she was given a new lease on life after she started cultivating Falun Gong in 2005. Her husband Mr. Long Huaming is appealing to the relevant government offices and has demanded her immediate release.

On October 16, 2006, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Li Xue, a resident of Jiaozhou City, a suburb of Qingdao City, was arrested and detained at Dashan Detention Center in Qingdao City. On March 15, 2007, Ms. Li was taken back to Jiaozhou City and was tried by the Jiaozhou City Court.

There was no one else except judges and police at the hearing. There were no lawyers or other people sitting in on the hearings. Even Ms. Li Xue's parents were forced to leave the court by the police and were not allowed to stay. The judge read the records of the police search of her house and pretended to give Ms. Li a chance to speak. Ms. Li said, "I do not think there is anything wrong with what I have done..." and was stopped by the judge without being able to finish. The trial was hastily finished, and Ms. Li was taken back to Dashan Detention Center.

At 3:00 p.m., on March 15, 2007, her family members went there to ask for the verdict. The police said that Ms. Li was taken away. Her family went there to ask for her release. The agents of the

Jiaozhou City Court said that Ms. Li was sentenced to seven years in prison. Her family asked, "Why? Where?"

The agents of the Jiaozhou City Court said that it was done in Qingdao City, but guards in Dashan Detention Center said it was done by agents in the Jiaozhou City Court. They shifted responsibility onto each other and did not dare to take any responsibility. When they were asked the reason for being tried, the 610 office agents said that Ms. Li downloaded information on the computer. The agents of the court claimed, "If we find 100 Falun Gong Information DVDs, that person will be sentenced to three years in prison. If we find 500 DVDs, that person will be sentenced to seven years in prison."