On April 26, 2004, the Political Security Division of the City Police Department arrested practitioner Sun Yaoting of Yanshi City, Henan Province. Mr. Sun was distributing truth-clarifying materials when he was arrested and brutally beaten. A day later, Mr. Sun developed a rapid and irregular heartbeat. After examination, the hospital said that Mr. Sun had a heart condition. By May 5, Mr. Sun's life was in danger and the prison sent him home.

Practitioner Wang Bingwen suffered inhumane torture in the Qingdao Forced Labor Camp. Wang Bingwen went on a hunger strike to protest the police's illegal conduct which included such torments as prolonged sleep deprivation, beatings, verbal abuse and humiliation. The hunger strike has gone on for more than a month. Now practitioner Wang is under tight surveillance by the police and is forced to sit on a small stool day and night without moving. The police force-feed Wang twice a day. Wang Bingwen has become emaciated and is suffering from severe muscle atrophy.

Mr. Jia Zhaoqing and his wife, Ms. Han Shuzhen, both practice Falun Gong. They were teachers in an agricultural school in Cangzhou City, Hebei Province. Because they practiced Falun Gong, their membership with the Communist Party was revoked. On many occasions, the school principal and secretary tried to "talk" to them [into giving up Falun Gong], forced them to watch videos slandering Falun Gong, and even monitored their daily life. On June 11, 2001, the two practitioners were arrested because they were distributing truth clarification materials about Falun Gong. They were imprisoned in the Cangzhou City First and Second Prisons for more than five months. Ms. Han was tied to a Tiger Bench (1) for four consecutive days and was handcuffed to an iron pole and left out in the sun for a long period of time. Ms. Han went on a hunger strike to protest and was brutally force-fed. Mr. Jia was beaten so severely that his nose and mouth bled and both his legs were terribly swollen due to being kicked by the police. His wrists had deep scars where the handcuffs cut into his skin. Later, both of them were sentenced for two years of forced labor and taken to the hospital on probation. In 2004, Ms. Han was sentenced to one more year of forced labor and was imprisoned in the Tangshan City Kaiping Forced Labor Camp.

Practitioners Song Caihong and Li Dongqing were brutally abused by the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. Practitioner Song has twice spent New Year's in a small toilet room. Practitioner Li was locked in a small toilet room for two consecutive months. During the bitterly cold winter, the windows of the toilet room and of the adjacent hallway were left wide open. The police stripped both practitioners of their thick winter clothes and left them with only thin pants sitting on an icy cold iron bench with both hands and legs immobilized with double handcuffs. They were only allowed to go to the bathroom once a day. Since 2002, the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp initiated strict policies against practitioners who refused to wear the prison uniform or name tags, who refused to go to the brainwashing classes, prison exercises, or who would not comply in any way with the forced labor activities. These practitioners were either locked in small toilet rooms, deprived of sleep, forced to squat the whole day and even overnight, or their sentences were illegally prolonged. A lot of these steadfast practitioners were tortured by being hung up by their arms, with both hands shackled behind their backs. In addition, they were allowed to wear only thin clothing and were left outside in the cold.

I am Xie Xiuzhen; I am a practitioner from Tangwan Township, Hongjiang City, Huaihua County, Hunan Province. The government confiscated my household property four times during the period from July 20, 1999 to 2002. On June 19, 2001, I showed the video about the truth of the self-immolation in Tiananmen Square to some local people. Someone reported me to the police and I was abducted and brought to the police station.

The violent acts of the Qingdao Forced Labor Camp Strict Discipline Team:

Officer Wang Yongjian used an electric baton to shock practitioner Wang Qingde, who was 64 years old. Mr. Wang later had a discussion with high level officials about his unjust sentence. The captain of the First Team, Xu Changcun, hated Mr. Wang for that and used his authority to prolong Mr. Wang's sentence. Practitioner Wang Bingwen was brutally beaten by Tang Junwei and is being continuously tortured and beaten by Shang Jingguo.

In the past four years, the police officers in Chaling County, Hunan Province, confiscated practitioners' household property, forced them to attend brainwashing sessions, sent them to labor camps and fined them for practicing Falun Gong. In 2004, practitioner Yin Fuliang was abducted and brought to the prison. Mr. Yin's legs became deformed because of the brutal beatings he suffered from the police. Mr. Yin has still not been released even though he has served his full term. The police said they would not release him unless they received 20,000 yuan (2) in extortion fees.

(1) Tiger Bench: an instrument of torture. One is forced to sit on a small iron bench with the knees tied tightly to the bench and with ones hands tied behind the back. Usually some hard objects are inserted underneath the lower legs to make the pain even more excruciating, see illustration on http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/11/24/16156.html

(2) Yuan: Chinese currency, 500 yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China.