Annie Yang was preparing dinner when eight men burst into her kitchen and hauled her away in front of her terrified son. It was the last time the single mum would see him for years.
Her captors were secret police officers who had put her under surveillance.
And this week, as Annie watched the chaotic scenes of the Olympic flame relay in London, the sight of men in blue tracksuits flanking the torch sent shivers down her spine.
Those men - members of the elite Flying Dragons - were from the same unit who snatched her that night.
Without a trial or a lawyer, Annie was condemned to a labour camp. For two years she was tortured, beaten and driven to the brink of suicide.
Her story is one that the Chinese government is desperate for you not to hear. Only since fleeing to Britain, can Annie talk openly about the barbaric practices in the city which will host this year's Olympic Games from August 8.
As protests dogged the Olympic torch procession in London, Paris and San Francisco, athletes, MPs and campaigners have spoken out against China's appalling record of human rights abuses.
With the eyes of the world now focused on China, its authorities are trying to portray a harmonious image to the world. But Annie Yang and Wenjian Liang can tell of a different side to life there.
The camp in which they were imprisoned is in Beijing, in the shadow of the Olympic stadium. Their crime? Practising the faith Falun Gong, which is based around exercises and teaches truthfulness, compassion and forbearance.
Officially, Falum Gong was banned for "jeopardising social stability" and "engaging in illegal activities". But anything that is not communism is considered dangerous by the government.
It was in March 2005, that Annie, 45, had her home raided. "Eight men burst in one night but only one of them was in police uniform," she recalls. "The rest were in normal clothes. I guess they were from the National Security Department.
"When I saw the torch in London being guarded by men in blue tracksuits, it brought back terrible memories. They are the same men who searched my home - they are highly-trained secret police.
"They took away my computer and my Falun Gong books. They took me from my 16-year-old son and put me in the local district detention centre.
"I didn't see a lawyer and there was no mention of court, and 40 days later I was sentenced to two years in a labour camp in Beijing.
"I wasn't allowed to see my son or any family or friends.
No one knew where I had gone or what had happened to me."
But Annie's nightmare was only just beginning.
"In the camp, they removed all of our basic human rights," she says. "We were not given enough food or water. After two hours, all my hair turned white because of the pressure.
"I was not allowed to sleep for more than a few hours a day, or to shower or change my clothes and all because I refused to renounce my beliefs.
"I was forced to sit on a stool with my knees and feet together, my hands underneath and my back straight, and I was not allowed to close my eyes.
"I had to sit there for 20 hours at a time and was not allowed to move without permission. It was to break us down."
But Annie's faith never wavered. "Every day I thought about suicide," she says. "But my beliefs helped me through those difficult times."
She was freed on September 9, 2006, after 18 terrible months. She says: "My body was swollen because of lack of nutrition.
I couldn't walk because I'd been forced to sit for so long without moving.
"The police said if I continued to practise Falun Gong they'd arrest me again, sooner or later. So I came to England, leaving my son, my family and friends behind."
Since the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999, over 3,000 followers have been killed - many tortured to death.
Many others are held in camps. People like accountant Wenjian Liang, who was first arrested in 2000 after complaining to a Government Appeals' Centre about the persecution of Falun Gong.
"A few months later, she and some friends were arrested," says her sister Jane, 44, who campaigns for Wenjian's release from her Nottingham home. "They were all thrown into a labour camp. Wenjian was told she would be there for two years. No one told any of the family she had been arrested."
Like Annie, Wenjian endured a traumatic time at the hands of the authorities.
"She was hanged by her hands from a window with her feet not touching the ground for hours," reveals Jane. "One of her friends died while being force-fed after going on hunger strike.
"What happens in those camps is beyond what you dare to imagine. Rape is a normal pastime. Girls are locked in a room with men hungry for sex."
Wenjian was released after 14 months, but she was re-arrested last year.
Jane says: "She and her husband were hosting a Chinese New Year party when plain clothes police men burst in. All of them were sent to a labour camp for two years - the same one where Wenjian had been held before.
"Wenjian is just one of thousands of people who have been arrested in the runup to the Olympics. And it's not just Falun Gong which is persecuted. Catholics have been driven underground and anyone who speaks out for human rights and democracy suffers."
Tim Hancock, Amnesty International UK campaigns director, says: "This is the side of China that the authorities don't want us to see. The Games can help bring human rights to China, but only if the authorities are pressured into making reforms. World leaders need to speak out."
In a new report, Amnesty warns that the lasting legacy of the Games is likely to be further human rights abuses.
It says: "Much of the current wave of repression is occurring because of the Olympics.
"Human rights activists - and others who have criticised government policy - have been targeted in a pre-Olympics 'clean up', in an apparent attempt to portray a 'harmonious' image to the world."
Annie adds: "The Games are a disaster for the ordinary Chinese people. I call on Britain to boycott the Olympics."
"Girls are locked in a room with men hungry for sex
For more on Amnesty's Human Rights for China campaign, visit www.amnesty.org.uk/china
