ORGAN HARVESTING IN CHINA
New evidence of the Chinese regime’s practice of harvesting organs from Falun Gong practitioners has come to light through the admission of a Chinese doctor.
An audio recording of the doctor admitting to having taken part in harvesting organs from Falun Gong practitioners, together with a state-endorsed documentary in which the same doctor acknowledges taking part in the conversation, is “an undeniable, inculpatory admission of the harvesting of Falun Gong practitioner prisoners for profit,” say David Matas, a human rights lawyer, and David Kilgour, former Canadian secretary of state (Asia Pacific), in a letter released yesterday. (See letter at end of article)
The letter, addressed to the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Canada, calls on the PRC authorities to officially admit to being involved in the organ harvesting, and to “put an end to this practice.”
Matas and Kilgour had their investigators call Chinese hospitals inquiring about organ transplants, specifically if they could get organs from Falun Gong practitioners, the rationale being that Falun Gong practitioners are generally known for being in good health.
In one case, Dr. Lu Guoping at Minzu Hospital of Guangxi Autonomous Region said that his hospital used to have organs from Falun Gong practitioners, but didn’t any longer. Here is a portion of the transcript:
"Caller: ...what you used before, were they from detention centers or prisons?
"Lu Guoping: From prisons.
"C: Oh, prisons. And it was from healthy Falun Gong practitioners, the healthy Falun Gong right?
"LG: Right, right, right. We would choose the good ones, because we will assure the quality of our operations.
"C: That means you choose the organs yourselves?
"LG: Right, right, right."
He later referred the caller to a hospital in Guangzhou, saying that this hospital would have Falun Gong organs.
In a documentary released by Phoenix TV, Lu Guoping admits to having received the call, and also to referring the caller to a Guangzhou hospital.
However, he denies that the transcript is accurate, stating in the interview, “I told her [the caller] I was not involved in the surgical operations and had no idea where the organs come from. I told her I could not answer her questions. She then asked me whether these organs come from prisons. I replied no to her in clear-cut terms.”
When shown a transcript of the interview on the video, Dr. Lu claims that it is a distorted version of the conversation. However, the existence of the audio recording that forms the basis of the transcript is not discussed.
Matas and Kilgour sum up the evidence: “So here we have on our recording an admission from a doctor that he and his colleagues used to go to a prison to select Falun Gong practitioners for their organs. He does not just say that someone else did this. He says that he and his colleagues used to do this themselves. Moreover, we have a further admission that the voice we have on our recording is the voice of the very person our recording says he is.”
The documentary in question is available through Chinese consulates and embassies.
“[C]onsequently,” Kilgour and Matas state in their letter, concerning the documentary, “it has the sanction of the Government of China. The admission is, accordingly, one which is sanctioned and approved by the Government of China and can not credibly be denied by the Government.”
Kilgour and Matas have been investigating claims of Falun Gong organ harvesting since 2006. Some of evidence includes 40,000 transplants that have taken place in China with donors unaccounted for, since the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999. Additionally, waiting times for organs in China are on the order of weeks, while in Western countries, the wait can be months or years.
Matas and Kilgour's letter to the Chinese Embassy is below. The links to the Phoenix TV video (with English subtitles) is here. permanent link