Asking for Canada's help
| Copyright 2006 Sarnia Observer All Rights Reserved Sarnia Observer (Ontario) September 7, 2006 Thursday SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. A3 LENGTH: 519 words HEADLINE: Asking for Canada's help BYLINE: JACK POIRIER BODY: A travelling press conference made its way to the steps of city hall Wednesday asking for political support to thwart the practice of organ harvesting in China. The four-member caravan, all Falun Gong practitioners, assert that thousands of the movement's followers have been tortured, murdered and their organs harvested in Nazi-style concentration camps run by the ruling Chinese Communist Party. "So many people don't believe this because it is so disturbing," said Clement Sun, director of the Global Mission to Rescue Persecuted Falun Gong Practitioners. "It's like science fiction. There are organ farms." The spiritual movement is banned in China and followers are arrested en masse, Sun said. In the camps, those not killed are tortured and forced to undergo brain-washing classes. The ancient practice combines meditation, spiritual teaching and movements similar to yoga and tai chi. Because it promotes independent thought, tolerance and compassion, they are targetted, Sun said. The human organs are lucrative, he said, because Falun Gong doesn't believe in ingesting anything harmful that would damage the body or spirit, such as tobacco, alcohol or drugs. Anne Wong, who joined Sun on the front steps of city hall, said she endured ridicule and persecution before she escaped to Canada. Her husband and son remain trapped in China. At one point, the government arrested her son, she said. The family went months without hearing from him. "He was sent to a labour camp. They tortured him," she said. A report released last month following a two-month investigation has provided credence to their story. Former Canadian secretary of state for Asia Pacific David Kilgour and renowned human rights lawyer David Matas concluded that Chinese authorities are executing a "large" number of Falun Gong prisoners. Their vital organs - including hearts, kidneys, livers and corneas - go for sale at high prices to foreigners and others. They are calling on Canadian leaders to condemn the Chinese communist regime, take measures to help stop the mass killing and organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners and urge the Chinese government to open its detention facilities to international inspection. The Chinese government has denied the organ-harvesting camps exist. Famed Chinese dissident and labour-camp expert Henry Wu believes some of the evidence supporting the Falun Gong claims may be tainted. Wu, who spent 19 years imprisoned in a Chinese gulag and is known as a leading researcher on Chinese labour camps, said witnesses fabricated evidence to support their allegations that China runs a secret concentration camp where organs are harvested. Wu said after the Falun Gong prevented him from meeting a pair of their witnesses, he sent his own investigators to the alleged concentration camp site in northeastern China and found no trace. However, Matas said that's not surprising, adding, "if this is happening, it's happening in an underground way. The victims are cremated and there are no autopsies." Anyone interested in learning more or joining the Falun Gong cause can log on to www.organharvestinvestigation.net GRAPHIC: Anne Wong and Clement Sun, and other Falun Gong practitioners, visited Sarnia Wednesday claiming China's Communism Party (CCP) is harvesting live organs from practioners. LOAD-DATE: September 7, 2006 |