Ms. Wang Deping, female, is a resident of Wenmiao Street in Kaifeng City, Henan Province. Ms. Wang works at the Kaifeng City Highway Bureau.

In December 1999, Ms. Wang went to appeal for Falun Gong and was detained for 15 days thereafter. She was released only after she agreed to pay 4,500 yuan to the Tianlongting Police Bureau in Kaifeng. During the year 2000, she was paid a monthly salary of only 200 yuan and was not paid for overtime because she practices Falun Gong. In late 2000, she was forced to attend a brainwashing class at Kaifeng City Labor Camp. In December 2000, Liu Suisheng from the Highway Bureau sent several people to Ms. Wang’s home to force her to write a letter stating that she was quitting her job. To avoid more persecution, Ms. Wang had to leave her home and wander about.

In order to find out where she was, Sun Xuejiang, the vice chief of Beishudian Police Station, detained Ms. Wang’s son and sister for one day. In January 2001, she was detained for a total of one month at detention centers in Beijing and Tangshan, and was then sentenced to three years of forced labor. In late 2003, upon her release, Ms. Wang was extremely weak and the Highway Bureau did not allow her to go back to work. On February 18, 2004, she was arrested again and beaten at Beidaomen Police Station. The next day she was transferred to Beishudian Police Station. At that time, seven policemen ransacked her home in order to collect “evidence” that she practiced Falun Gong. Eventually, Ms. Wang was sentenced to another two years of forced labor.

Mr. Wu Guangcheng, male, is the husband of Ms. Wang Deping. He was dismissed from his work in 2000 because he practices Falun Gong. In November 2000, he was detained for 15 days. On New Year’s Day of 2001, he went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and was detained at Beijing Eastern District Detention Center. During his detention, he was brutally beaten and tortured. Among other things, he was forced to take a shower with ice-cold water and to “ride an airplane”[1]. Several inmates beat him to the ground and stepped on his fingers and toes so violently that his nails fell off. With hard plastic soles on their shoes, they also beat his nose and legs until they bled. Because of the bruises all over Mr. Wu’s body, he was unable to sleep or stand. On January 9, 2001, he was sent back to Kaifeng. Sun Xuejiang, the chief of Beishudian Police Station, handcuffed him to an iron bed. The next day he was sent to a detention center and was then sentenced to two years of forced labor. After suffering for two years, Mr. Wu was released in December 2002. But on February 28, 2003, less three months later, Vice Chief of Beishudian Police Station Li Hetong and policeman Yu Tao arrested Mr. Wu again from his home. Without going through any legal procedure, he was sentenced to another year of forced labor.