Mr. Zhang Xiuqi, over fifty years old, is a Falun Gong practitioner from Nanwazhai in Laishui Town, Laishui County, Baoding City, Hebei Province. Since the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20 1999, he has been subjected to many forms of torture and persecution. He has been unlawfully arrested many times, been ruthlessly beaten and has also been fined. His house has also been searched and his personal belongings have been illegally confiscated by the Chinese authorities. During the period of "the two meetings" (1) in 2004, Mr. Zhang was abducted from his home and forced into the county detention center. Later they sentenced him to three years of forced labor without undertaking any proper legal procedures. At the detention center, Mr. Zhang Xiuqi staged a hunger strike as a way of peacefully protesting against the injustice that had been inflicted on him. The hunger strike plus the intensive persecution made him too feeble to walk. Thus the forced labor camp refused to accept him and he was returned to the detention center. Still on a hunger strike, Mr. Zhang became critically ill and so they had no choice but to send him to the Laishui County Hospital.

In Heilongjiang Province, Daqing City's Falun Gong practitioner, Ms. Xing Yuzhen had been illegally detained at the Harbin drug rehabilitation center. She staged a hunger strike in protest, during which time she has been persecuted to the brink of death. They have now had to rush her to a hospital for emergency treatment.

Ms. Cai Mi is a 26 year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province. In October of 1999, due to her firmness in practicing Falun Dafa, she was expelled from Northeast Forestry University, causing her to lose her student status. On New Year's Eve of 2002, because she hung a Falun Dafa truth-clarification banner at the university's Physics Building, Ms. Cai was arrested and unlawfully sentenced to a four-year term at the Heilongjiang Women Prison. As she refused to do any forced labor or follow any unreasonable rules instigated by the prison staff, Ms. Cai has been sent to solitary confinement since March of 2004. Now Ms. Cai is still holding a hunger strike without either food or water so as to protest against the persecution. Her life is in great danger.

Practitioner Ms. Ding Lihong, age 34, is a resident of Fanzhangzi Village, Mutoudeng Town, Qinglong County, Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province. After July 20 1999, when Falun Gong was outlawed in China, Ms. Ding went to Beijing to peacefully appeal for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong. She was arrested and transferred to the Qinglong County Detention Center. Once she was detained, she was tortured very cruelly. She was whipped with a leather belt and forced to squat for an extended period of time. In June 2000, Ms. Ding was abducted by authorities againg and taken to the detention center where she was subjected to further mistreatment. In 2002, after having being reported to the police for her involvement in the printing of Falun Gong materials by someone who didn't know the facts about Falun Gong, Ms. Ding's house was illegally searched and her personal property was confiscated. With righteous thoughts, Ms. Ding escaped and had no choice but to leave home to avoid further persecution. Her father-in-law also practices Falun Gong, so they arrested him in lieu of her. Mr. Kuang Dejin, the father-in-law, was unlawfully incarcerated at the Qinglong County Detention Center for two months where he was savagely tortured. Ms. Ding's family was forced to pay more than 7,000 yuan (2) while her father was kept at the detention center.

I am a Falun Gong practitioner from Hebei Province. My name is Cao Huifang. I started practicing Falun Gong in July 1996, and my physical and mental health improved tremendously. Previous illnesses such as coronary heart disease, bronchitis, and thyroid hyper-function totally disappeared. Since July 20 1999, when Chinese dictator Jiang and his associates began their persecution of Falun Gong, I was detained many times and sent to forced labor camps on two occasions simply because I went to peacefully appeal in Beijing. In the detention center, I was brutally beaten, I was shocked with electric batons, and I was also savagely force-fed. In the Kaiping Forced Labor Camp in Tangshan City, Hebei Province, I went on a hunger strike. On the ninth day of my hunger strike, their forced feeding caused me to have muscle spasms and I was sent to a hospital for an infusion. Fifteen days later, my legs would not function and my whole body became numb.

Notes:

(1) "The two meetings" is a phrase referring to the meeting of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

(2) yuan -- Chinese currency; 500 yuan is the average monthly salary of an urban worker in China.