Practitioners oppose treatment by China

North Bay Nugget (Ontario) 

August 15, 2006 Tuesday 

SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. A2 

LENGTH: 299 words 



BODY: 


Falun Gong practitioners from Toronto stopped briefly in North Bay, Monday, 
as part of a cross-Canada tour. 

They're raising awareness about a report into allegations of organ 
harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China prepared by human rights 
lawyer David Matas and former MP David Kilgour. 

Released July 6, the independent investigation concluded "there has been and 
continues today to be large scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong 
practitioners." 

China rejected the organ harvesting allegations. 

About 41,000 organs transplanted in China in the past six years could not be 
legitimized and may have come from prisoners scooped up by the communist 
regime as it attempts to wipe out Falun Gong, the report stated. 

In 2000, Amnesty International documented the Chinese regime's use of a 
"massive propaganda campaign" to demonize Falun Gong, a practice of 
meditation, gentle exercises and cultivation of truthfulness, compassion and 
tolerance in oneself. 

According to a media release provided by the Falun Gong practitioners 
visiting North Bay, China's top leader Jiang Zemin initiated the crackdown 
in 1999 because it was overshadowing his own legacy. 

The government estimated there were more than 60 million Chinese practicing 
Falun Gong at the time. 

Investigators based their report on taped telephone requests for organs, 
testimony by an ex-wife of a surgeon she said removed corneas and Internet 
sites advertising organs for sale. 

The report recommends the Canadian government stop training doctors here to 
conduct organ transplants until the practice stops and to revoke passports 
of citizens suspected of travelling to China for transplants. 

The group is heading to Haileybury and Kirkland Lake before hitting towns in 
northwestern Quebec and then driving to Thunder Bay by the weekend. 

GRAPHIC: Falun Gong practitioners Li Tianqi, Lisa Wang and Vicky Jin hold up 
a banner in front of North Bay City Hall, Monday, to raise awareness about 
China's treatment of their colleagues. 

LOAD-DATE: August 15, 2006