Rights advocates probe Chinese organ transplants

Falun Gong Charges:Kidneys for Canadians alleged to come from executed prisoners

National Post, May 9, 2006,   A6

By Tom Blackwell

Two Canadian human rights advocates are launching an investigation into charges the Chinese government routinely harvests organs for transplant from executed members of the Falun Gong religious group.

If the allegations prove well-founded, the Canadian government should consider seizing the passports of Canadians who obtain transplants in China, said David Matas, a Winnipeg rights lawyer.

He and David Kilgour, a former Liberal MP, announced the review in Ottawa, just days after the national post reported that dozens of Canadians have obtained kidney transplants in China - and that some experts believe the organs are culled from executed prisoners.

The two lawyers were asked by the Flaun Gong to conduct an investigation of the group's contention that thousands of its members, held in concentration camps, have been killed and their organs removed. The Chinese government denied the charges.

Mr. Matas said he has an open mind about the issue, but maintains there is at least enough evidence to warrant a close look at the accusations.

"Organ transplanting of executed prisoners is bad enough," he said in an interview.

"But organ transplanting of people who haven't been convicted of anything is even worse. It's a ghoulish and grotesque and repulsive form of political and religious repression."

Rahim Jaffer, a Conservative MP, showed up at the lawyers' news conference and said his government supports such an independent investigation.

The Falun Gong, a spiritual group with widespread membership, in banned in China as a cult.  ?/span>

The Chinese government has admitted it does take organs for transplant from executed prisoners, but maintains they have been lawfully sentenced to death for crimes, and have consented to donate their organs after death.  ?/span>

Critics, though, charge it is unlikely that consent is often provided, or is provided under duress. They also argue that injustices are widespread in the Chinese legal system, and they death penalty can be imposed for a range of non-violent offenses, including even tax fraud and embezzlement.  ?/span>

Administrators of kidney transplant programs in Toronto and Vancouver told the Post that they have treated a growing number of desperate Canadian patients who have traveled to China for transplants. In Canada, they can wait years on transplant waiting lists, with many dieing before they get a new kidney.   ?/span>

The specialists here say it is clear the organs come from executed prisoners, since transplants are performed within days or weeks of the patient arriving in China, which would be impossible if they kidneys came from accident victims. Some patients admit that their "donor" was a dead prisoner.  ?/span>

Harry Wu, head of the Laogai Research Foundation, which investigates abuses in the Chinese gulag, says there is no doubt that organs are harvested regularly from executed, non-consenting prisoners.  ?/span>

But he said in a recent interview that he is not convinced by evidence put forward by the Falun Gong of widespread execution and organ harvesting of its members.

Mr. Matas said he and Mr. Kilgour plan to apply for a visa to China to make inquires there.

If it is proven that the Flaun Gong are being executed and their organs used in the transplant trade, the federal government should take action against Canadians who obtain oragns in China, Mr. Matas said. ?/span>

Natinal Post