OTTAWA -- The Conservative government is planning to investigate allegations in a new report that the Chinese government and its agencies are torturing religious prisoners and harvesting their organs, Tory MP Deepak Obhrai indicated on Thursday.

"We take these allegations quite seriously, and we'll look into that," said Obhrai, who is parliamentary secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay. "We'll look to have it confirmed."

The report, prepared by former Alberta MP David Kilgour and international human rights lawyer David Matas, included transcripts of recorded conversations in Mandarin with hospital and detention-centre officials who admitted they had organs available for transplants from Falun Gong prisoners.

The Chinese government banned the practice of Falun Gong in the country in 1999, and rounded up its members accusing them of anti-government activities.

"What we've got here is a new, shocking, different form of evil," said Matas at a news conference. "The Chinese Communist party sees the Falun Gong as an ideological threat to the regime, because of the large numbers, the ability to mobilize a large group of people, their commitment and their tenacity."

Obhrai said the government had already been concerned about the issue before the report was released.