China: Organ Harvesting from Political Prisoners

by Colleen Zauberg

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been accused by many human rights organizations of harvesting organs from prisoners detained at camps across the county.  A large number of the harvested organs are believed to have been taken from people practicing Falun Gong, a practice partially based on meditation that has been banned in the PRC since 1999.   Harry Wu, a survivor of the PRC labor camps, recently described the organ harvesting in remarks to the U.S. House of Representatives, stating that the organs are taken from prisoners sentenced to death and sold to wealthy buyers, including foreigners, and then the bodies are cremated to hide the evidence of harvesting.  A listing of archived websites advertising the widespread availability of organ transplants in the PRC can be found in the report Bloody Harvest.  Despite the enactment of a law prohibiting the taking of organs without the donor’s consent, it is believed that the number of transplant facilities has grown dramatically in the past eight years – creating an inference that the law has no actual force.  Foreigners who receive the organ transplants in China often return to their country of origin to obtain their follow-up medical care. 

For more information, please see:

David Matas & David Kilgour - Bloody Harvest: Revised Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China - 31 January 2007

Christian Science Monitor (Ashley Twiggs)- China Faces Suspicions about Organ Harvesting - 3 August 2006

Human Rights Watch - China: Organ Procurement and Judicial Execution in China - August 1994

Toronto Sun (Peter Worthington) - China’s Obscene ‘Harvest’ of Organs - 16 August 2006

Falun Dafa Association - Introduction to Falun Dafa Falun Gong

Harry Wu - Congressional Record E127 - 17 January 2007

Comments

[CharlesLiu]

The Falun Gong organ allegation Kilgour is promoting has been discredited, most recently by Ottawa Citizen:

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/observer/story.html?id=2c15d2f0-f0ab-4da9-991a-23e4094de949&p=3

Here are US government and Chinese dissident investigations disproving it:

1) http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=April&x=20060416141157uhyggep0.5443231&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html

http://www.usembassy.it/pdf/other/RL33437.pdf (section CRS-7)

2) http://www.cicus.org/info_eng/artshow.asp?ID=6491

http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20060806_1.htm