On December 23, 2001 Mr. Li Chouren, male, a 40-year-old farmer from Huangjiazhuang Village, Zengcun Town, Gaocheng City, Hebei Province, was arrested because he practiced the Falun Gong exercises at a fellow practitioner’s home. Police from the Gaocheng Public Security Bureau and the Zengcun Town Police Station took him and other practitioners to the Gaocheng City Detention Center, where they were beaten, deprived of sleep, and tortured using various means, including being forced to stand for a long time,1 riding an airplane,2 and being forced to drink urine. Mr. Li became very weak from the torture, and his health deteriorated. The detention center, observing his condition, extorted 1,500 Yuan (500 Yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China) from his sister’s family before he was finally released. Mr. Li died ten days after his release.

Between March 14, 2000 and December 27, 2000, Ms. Deng Meijuan, female, went to Beijing three times to appeal to the government to stop persecuting Falun Gong. The first time, in March, she was detained in the Gaocheng City Detention Center for 45 days. The second time, she was arrested again and detained in the Gaocheng City Detention Center for 70 days starting on June 11, 2000. On December 27, 2000, Ms. Deng went to Beijing to appeal for the third time, and was detained in the Yanshan Detention Center in Fangshan District, Beijing, for 23 days, along with more than 50 other Falun Gong practitioners. They went on a hunger strike to protest their detention. The guards in the detention center force-fed them every day, causing many practitioners to suffer haematemesis and low blood pressure, putting many in critical condition. The practitioners were not released until the Spring Festival of 2001. After Ms. Deng returned home, the police attempted to arrest her several times, but her family helped her escape capture. Although she was pregnant, in July 2002 the police attempted to send her to a brainwashing session, but her family again helped her escape. Two months after Ms. Deng gave birth, the police found her, arrested her and her baby, and took them to a local brainwashing session on New Year’s Day. It had just snowed. The temperature was very cold when they arrived at the brainwashing session. Ms. Deng’s child had a fever, so they sent Ms. Deng and the baby to the hospital. The doctor diagnosed the child with pneumonia. To avoid responsibility, the police left her and her child in the hospital unattended, enabling Ms. Deng to escape.

In July 1999, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Wu Suhua was on her way to Beijing to appeal to the government to stop persecuting Falun Gong when the village police arrested her. She was illegally detained for three days. The police forced her family to pay a fine of 1,000 Yuan and forced her to write a “guarantee statement.”3 Later she was detained in the village’s committee building for four days and fined 350 Yuan. In November 2000, Ms. Wu Suhua went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong again. The village police and the village’s public security director brought her back to the village committee. Ms. Wu went on hunger strike in protest. The director attempted to force-feed her with her hands cuffed behind her back. At night, Ms. Wu escaped, but has since been forced to move from place to place in order to avoid capture and further persecution. Police still frequent Ms. Wu’s home to harass her family.

On May 1, 2003, Falun Gong practitioners were detained for three days and forced to do farm work in the scorching heat. On October 1, Falun Gong practitioners were forced to do farm labor. The practitioners persecuted were Ms. Shi Wenmei, Zheng Shujun, Ms. Ju Junyan, Ma Ruiling, Ms. Liang Ruixia, and Ms. Wu Suhua.

The village committee later persecuted other Falun Gong practitioners. They detained practitioners Shi Wenmei, Zheng Shujun, and Ma Ruiling for 20 days. They did not provide any food and instead asked their families to bring food for them. They forced practitioners to remove snow from the streets, but would not let them wear warm clothing. Falun Gong practitioners were forced to write “guarantee statements” and do self-criticism over the village’s loudspeakers, and were each fined 2,000 Yuan.