An Unusual Piece of “Spam”
Every morning, I get between 150 and 250 emails as soon as I run my email client. For the last month, when I go in to do my daily spam-delete at the end of the day, there have been between 481 (on July 2,) and 1453 (on July 16.) My filters are pretty good, and catch quite a few of the spams, but I still end up with about 50 or so in my inbox that I have to actually look at, and sort through. I’m sure I’ve lost some valid emails, because over the course of a day, I have to sort through so many that sometimes I know I’m not really seeing what’s there.
This morning, I was starting to “fuzz out” as I kept hitting my Thunderbird email client’s “spam” icon, over and over, getting rid of the emails my filters had missed. One email didn’t look like the others … and my finger paused for a moment just above the little red trash can that would have marked the email as just another piece of “spam.” I glanced at the email, fully expecting it to be a Nigerian Scam, which always comes in looking like a private email. It took me about 2 seconds to rule that one out … it had none of the telltale marks. I looked over the rest of the email … one link, lots of clear, carefully written text, no attachments … and interestingly, a few Chinese characters. Although I do receive Chinese spam (yes, I really do! It’s from leaving comments on a Chinese friend’s blog) … this obviously wasn’t typical.
I started to read a few words at random … crematorium … torture … organ trade … whoa!
I started at the top … and was horrified by what I was reading. On clicking the link, I was taken to a news site called “The Epoch Times” … and realized that the email I’d received was a text cut and paste of that article. I have no idea who sent it to me. I’m going to cut and paste the article into this post … and let all of you judge the veracity of its contents. I fully expect to end up on China’s internet ban list, and if so, I’ll miss Ingrid and my other Chinese blog friends, but if there’s any truth to this stuff, bringing it out into full daylight is the right thing to do.
Original article can be found here.
Exposing Shocking Horrors Inside Sujiatun Concentration Camp
By Ji Da
Epoch Times Staff
Mar 11, 2006
A reporter from China who worked for a Japanese television news agency and specialized in Chinese news recently escaped to the United States after being wanted in China for reporting on controversial issues. (The Epoch Times)[ Warning: graphic photos below ]
Falun Gong Practitioners a Cheap Source of Black Market Organs
In recent years, international organ buying and selling markets have had extreme shortages. As the world’s most populous country with the death penalty, China is beginning to use lethal injections so the executed person’s organs cannot be given to hospitals for organ transplants.
Since China’s illegal organ trade business has been internationally exposed, the United States Congress has held numerous hearings. The international society has requested that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) follow the “use of the dead or executed persons’ organs” statute announced in 1990. The statute stipulates that a criminal’s organs only be obtained if the person or his or her relatives gave permission, or if the corpse is unclaimed.
Due to fewer channels for obtaining human organs, the prices of organs have been high for long periods of time. Since the CCP has ordered the 6-10 Office, a branch specially established to persecute Falun Gong practitioners, to “kill Falun Gong practitioners and call it suicide” and “to ruin their reputation, bankrupt them financially, and destroy them physically,” the organs of Falun Gong practitioners who have been tortured to death have become a source of cheap merchandise for this black market.
Doctors and Merchants Involved were Deceived
An insider told The Epoch Times that the doctors and merchants involved in the purchases of Falun Gong practitioners’ organs were told that the organs were from Falun Gong practitioners who “developed insanity from the practice and died” or “became evil after practicing and murdered other people, and therefore were sentenced to death and shot by the authorities.” Therefore, the involved parties never found a problem with it nor did they have any moral criticisms about it. Since Sujiatun Concentration Camp sells the organs at cheap prices, international organ buying and selling representatives try to find ways to contact and make deals with Sujiatun. Overseas Chinese also contact relatives in Shenyang City in hopes of buying a cheap kidney from Sujiatun Camp.
Some private hospital and health systems workers know that it is possible to buy organs of Falun Gong practitioners from Sujiatun Concentration Camp, where the human organs have no traces of lethal injections. An eyewitness claimed that locals of Sujiatun District regard it [the organ buying] as taboo and are very cautious. The average person there would not even raise the matter.
The Stone Crematorium Often Emits White Smoke
Sujiatun Concentration Camp is in a hidden place, surrounded by many trees. One eyewitness said, “Now, some roads are blocked in Shenyang City and vehicles are not allowed to pass. There are obstructions on the roads similar to those on the road to Sujiatun. The average car has no way to get close to the camp. In order to avoid suspicion and trouble, we rode in a truck that transported coal to get closer to the concentration camp. We saw the camp crematorium emitting white smoke. No one was around the area and the atmosphere was very scary. A local told me that every time they pass by, they always see smoke emitting from the crematorium.”
Prisoners’ Corpses Immediately Cremated after Organ Removal
In the past, international media exposed the secret theft of human organs in China to the international society. The law-violating Public Security Bureau, judges and doctors colluded to steal organs from the dead for transplants and large profits.
The organs of some Falun Gong practitioners who were tortured to death were excised. Mysterious holes in blood vessels and cuts on the remains have attracted serious attention. The photo is of Falun Gong practitioner Liu Yufeng, who was beaten to death. (www.clearwisdom.net)The Chinese criminals are often not permitted to contact their family so no one will go to claim the body after the execution. This way, the organs can be removed and the corpse quickly cremated. The CCP requests medical personnel involved to secretly perform the operations, and their operation vehicles cannot have any hospital logos. The doctors are also forbidden to wear their operating clothes on the execution grounds. In addition, the security guards monitor their organ removal surgeries and then cremate the body immediately after.
Sujiatun Camp is Very Crowded, but Its Population Kept Secret
Currently, Shenyang has many corpse factories and private hospitals purchasing human organs for resale on the international market. The Sujiatun concentration camp has shifted more than 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners and gathered some doctors for the organ removal surgery. In order to eliminate potential evidence, the bodies are cremated.
A person who worked at the concentration camp said the workload is ever-increasing. The authorities are continually transferring Falun Gong practitioners there and the jail is crowded and full beyond imagination. It is clearly a place a person cannot live in or withstand to see.
China currently has the largest organ trade of any country.
Wang Bin, a 44-year old Falun Gong practitioner from Heilongjiang Province was mercilessly beaten to death by policemen Feng Xi and others at Daqing Men’s Labor Camp on September 24, 2000. Afterwards, his heart and brain were removed, and the remains were placed in the morgue of Daqing People’s Hospital. The photo is of Wang Bin’s scarred body. (www.clearwisdom.net)Dead Falun Gong Practitioners’ Organs “Missing”
During the middle of last June, according to a report provided by practitioners of Falun Gong, organs of Falun Gong practitioners who were tortured to death during their imprisonment were stolen for transplant.
According to a related people’s investigation, blood holes and knife scars were found on some Falun Gong practitioners’ bodies that were tortured to death. Some were autopsied without their family members’ permission and some victims’ organs were excised. Informants revealed that doctors of the Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Baiyun District, Guangzhou City openly “directed” thugs who torture Falun Gong practitioners, “Don’t beat them [at the] waist, the kidneys can be used.”
On February 16, 2001, Ren Pengwu (male, 33 years old), Falun Gong practitioner in Harbin, was arrested for sending materials exposing inconsistencies of the self-immolation case. He was imprisoned at the Second Detention Center in Hulan County, Heilongjiang Province. After five days, on the morning of February 21, he died. Without his family members’ agreement, under the guise of legal appraisal, the police excised all Ren Pengwu’s body organs, from gullet to genitals, and then illegally cremated the body.
Yang Ruiyu, female, was originally an employee of Taijiang District Property Management Bureau in Fuzhou City. On July 19, 2001, she was abducted from her work place by public security staff. She died three days later due to abuse while in custody. The body was sent under police escort all the way to a crematorium. Yang Ruiyu’s husband and daughter were not allowed to approach the body. According to witnesses, there was a hollow hole about the size of a fist on Yang Ruiyu’s body.
The Falun Gong Clearwisdom website has urgently made a call to the international community to pay close attention to the case of Chinese Falun Gong practitioners’ organs being stolen. It also called on relatives of victims and people committed to justice to keep records of all evidence of individuals and organizations involved in the crime for the purpose of future lawsuits.
Related Articles:
Worse Than Any Nightmare—Journalist Quits China to Expose Concentration Camp Horrors and Bird Flu Coverup
Secret Chinese Concentration Camp Revealed
Tell the World about Sujiatun
August 2nd, 2006 at 4:16 pm
That is just horrible!!!!
August 2nd, 2006 at 5:17 pm
Moof, yeah, you got it all printed in full…way to go! Never mind, your outside the Great Firewall of China anyway, you can still order dimsum. :) If one will be inside the wall, one will end up like these people.
Your piece of spam has been going on. Sometime April or May, this news came out and as always, Chinese authorities deny organ harvest amongst prisoners, some of which are forcibly taken.
I love it when people are fearless enough to show what’s really happening. What’s the use of the internet, with all these information and write like lame duck for fear of ending up facing the Great Firewall. For as long as it’s not porno, no profanity and not a state secret/intellectual property, I’m fine with that. Do they consider this as state secret? :)
Thanks for posting this. Now we have twining articles…lol
August 2nd, 2006 at 7:02 pm
Moof, I read this here this morning and didn’t know what to say about it. Kudos to for for posting it. Everyone whoudl know about this. It makes me to read this and look at those pictures. I can’t even imagine such barbaric acts.
August 2nd, 2006 at 8:21 pm
Wolfbaby … yes, it’s horrible. I don’t like putting pictures like that on my blog … but I feel as if it had to shown.
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Ipanema, thank you. You’re a sweet heart. I’m not worried about their ban, I’m just going to miss a few people that used to be able to come here.
And you know, I’m sure China considers it a “state secret” … for all that they’re big and threatening, they want to do what they want to do … and save face all the same.
They don’t realize that we still see what’s going on, and they’re losing face even more because of their lies.
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Cathy … I know. And I can tell you’re upset. I’m so sorry to have upset you like that. It’s hard to look on real barbarism … and realize that someplace in the world, this is reality for an entire nation.
August 2nd, 2006 at 9:10 pm
Organ theft has become a real problem and has now moved into the United States. There is no telling how wide spread it has become.
India has a big problem with it too. And South America.
Then there’s the countries that get the poor to sell their kidneys out of coercion and for very small amounts of money. (Compared to what they are giving up.)
later…
August 3rd, 2006 at 9:52 am
i can’t wrap my head around cruel acts. i don’t understand any of the intent that comes behind it…i know it is hate. i still find myself utterly shocked when horrific things like this happen. always puts my life into prospective.
August 3rd, 2006 at 12:22 pm
This, if it is true, is horrible.
Forget organ theft, there are worse things happening in India..
Here’s a sample which may force most of you to revise your opinion of medicine in India.
This was a top news story a few days ago on TV.
Sometimes it is hard to be proud of being an Indian and a doctor.
August 3rd, 2006 at 3:59 pm
Truly deplorable but because it continues to exist makes you suspect that the political will to end it may not be that strong.
August 3rd, 2006 at 6:03 pm
TJ, thank you for visiting and leaving a comment. You’re right, it’s pretty widespread. Look at the waiting lists for organ donors … pieces and parts fetch quite a high amount. It’s incredible that, in our day and age, this could be happening at all.
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Kt, my dear, I hear you. You’re in the business of working with people who are dying, and you’re spending so much of yourself trying to give them more time, and improve the quality of the time they do have. When you’re all about caring, it’s even harder to see this sort of thing.
*comfort*
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Dr. Scan Man, I keep trying to load that page, and it won’t come up. If I knew what the subject was, I would do a search, but you didn’t mention it. I’ll continue trying. If you have an alternate web address for us, let me know. I go in and correct the link! Thank you!
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Dr. Emer … the “political will to end it may not be that strong” … I think you’ve got it exactly, in spades. You have a gift of understatement. Thank you for visiting and commenting.
August 3rd, 2006 at 8:23 pm
Moof, have you looked into the veracify of Falun Gong’s claims? For example, the Wang Bin Photo - I showed it to a pathologist, and he called Falun Gong’s torture/vivisection claim “BS”. Noticed the incision around the neck? There’s no neck organ to harvest for transplant.
The truth is it is a autopsy photo, as part of Mr. Wang’s murder investigation. The incision around the neck is to reveal the hyoid bone for evidence of strangulation. The jail official implicated was arrested as the result of the murder investigation:
http://clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2000/11/16/6164.html
As you can see, the photo actually proved the opposit is true.
What Epoch Times did was mis-representing the gory photo to elicit emotional response. And is any wonder all this started aroud March/April? You bet, the Chinese leaders were visiting.
There are many other contrarian facts agsint FLG’s claim. I have cataloged them in my blog:
* Two US government investigations started as early as 2nd week of March, independently found the allegation not credible;
* Other media investigations, including Hong Kong newspaper Takunpao with circulation in Canada also found the allegation not credible. FYI Takunpao lost their government subsidies after they reported critically on Tiananmen Square Massacre.
* Other experts have doubted Falun Gong’s claim, including Harry Wu of Laogai Research Foundation;
* Malaysian government’s prior year visit to the alleged camp, which is a joint-venture and has been open to the public for years;
While China’s human rights records should be examined, writing allegory of “Schindler’s List” is not the way. If we in the west can not be precise with our accusation, why should anyone take what we say seriousely?
August 3rd, 2006 at 9:04 pm
Mr. Fletcher, I can see that you’re far more versed in the subject than I am, since I’m only going by what I received in an email, and saw on a web site - as you read in my post.
However, I need to add the following …
I know that every issue has more than one side. Whenever I am told something by someone who seems to be extremely interested in a particular subject, it makes my warning bells begin to chime.
I don’t know anything about Falun Gong, but I do know that China plays her cards very close to her chest, and that reports of corruption and injustice flow from her borders from more than just one source.
After taking a look at your blog, and seeing the titles of all of your blogs, here listed:
… I can’t help but see you as an “interested party” … a very interested party. I don’t have the time to go over all of your blogs to see what exactly your interest is, any more than I have the time to do extensive research on Falun Gong. However, since I do not know what exactly your own interest, or even allegiance, might be, the post is staying up.
I will leave your comment intact, thus allowing other people to visit your blogs and make up their own minds.
Thank you for your comment.
August 3rd, 2006 at 11:42 pm
Moof, thanks for allowing me to post the contrarian facts about Falun Gong’s recent “Auschwitz” allegation made in anticipation of Chinese leader’s stateside visit in April.
You don’t have to do anything; that is not my intention. As to my blogs:
- “A Chruch in China” is a photo log of my 2004 trip to rural China, and my encounter with a Protestant church started by an American couple 20 years ago.
- “Sujiatun Fact or Hoax” is the catalog of search results I found after I looked into this allegation. One day in Chinatown some FLG practioner shoved a flyer in my face. Big mistake.
- “What’s wrong with organ harvesting” consists of my understanding of organ donation culture in China, and the fact even properly donated organ must be “harvested”.
- “TAM Myth” is about passive journalism and mis-reporting on TAM as result of it. I ctied Columbia School of Journalism article, and a former Canadian diplomat’s take on the subject.
- “Falun Gong Politics” has one article - a Pulitzer winner from Wall Street Journal. Many of us in the West do not know FLG’s political history in China, and the crack-down’s origin in Chinese Communist Party’s own political strugge, where aging Cultural Revolution era cadres used the sect as a political pawn.
- “Diayutai” has the research I did 10 years ago on China’s claim of this disputed island. Both ROC and PRC claims the island.
(Not that it matters, but just in case this is what you are insinuating - I’m an American, and I have never been a PRC citizen a day in my life.)
August 4th, 2006 at 3:05 am
Moof I’ve not had any trouble opening the link.
The link (http://www.ibnlive.com/printpage.php?id=17015§ion_id=3) will take you to a printable page of CNN-IBN TV’s website. Maybe you have to wait for Firefox to open the print dialog box.
August 4th, 2006 at 7:58 am
Dr. Scan Man … I used the link you sent me by email, and it worked fine. Perhaps the one in the comment would work fine right now too. when I was trying yesterday, it kept saying that the site was unreachable.
I read the entire article, and I have to admit that it’s a real chin dropper. Horrific! But listen Dr. Scan Man, you can’t identify with this sick, greedy individual, or hold him up as an example for your country. Every nation on earth has its share of monsters.
We can all be ashamed for the sake of that man, and people like him, since they don’t seem to have the sense to have any shame of their own … but you should be proud to be an Indian.
Thank you for sharing that with us. I hope that the media attention brings about a little justice there …
August 7th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
Something else to consider…
Take into consideration the culture and thought of the modern Chinese- they don’t usually make up fabrications about the Chinese Communist Party because if they do (a.k.a. critize or disagree)they will be punished severely. Since the conception of the Chinese Communist party, they have ruled with fabrication and violence. They lie to deceive and kill or threaten to kill to create fear and obedience. This is the culture they have created.
Chinese people will avoid confrontation at all costs.
Any type of accusation or complaint the CHinese people publicly make- will be made knowing they could face life threatening punishments. Who would accuse the Chinese Communist Party so frivolously?
If China is innocent why will they not give Visa’s to the to investigators? Why did the U.S. investigators have to wait two weeks to see the hospital, and why did they have a government official tour them through the hospital keeping careful track of what they could see?
To find out more about the Chinese Culture created by the Chinese Communist Party read the “Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party”
http://ninecommentaries.com/
August 7th, 2006 at 10:35 pm
C Panke, thank you very much for your comment. The things that you’ve said are close to what I’ve been wondering myself. I will certainly research the link you’ve sent me. Thank you.
August 8th, 2006 at 7:24 am
moof, the link is from Falun Gong. And I hope you still remember what you said about more than one source.
Here’s another investigation you should take a look, it’s from Harry Wu of Laogai Research Foundation. He investigated Falun Gong’s Sujiatun claim and found it not credible:
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20060806_1.htm
August 8th, 2006 at 8:01 am
Mr. Fletcher, I don’t need to do any research to have my own opinion about Communism.
I do hope that you’re not going to come in and try to refute each person who agrees with the article. I don’t know much about Falon Gong, but if they’re against Communism, then that’s 1 point in their favor, as far as I’m concerned.
You’re not going to make any converts here.
August 29th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
Moof,
I’m really surprised by your exchange with Mr. Fletcher.
When I read your post I was surprised to begin with: you got a piece of spam and believed everything in it without cross-checking. The original article came from “The Epoch Times,†a privately held organisation with the goal of attacking the Chinese Communist Party — at least, that’s what they say they are on their website.
When I read the article, I thought the pictures were odd: they claimed to be of people who had been beaten to death, and then had their organs harvested, and then been sewn up again. But if I wanted to claim that someone died of suicide (the article says this is the strategy of the Chinese government), I wouldn’t beat them to death. Ditto if I wanted to harvest someone’s organs. When someone is beaten to death, they are likely to die of suffocation, blood loss, or of their vital organs being damaged to the point of no longer being able to support life. None of which, I would have thought, are good ways to kill someone whose organs you want to transplant. Not that I know anything about transplantation, but I would have done more research before publishing the article. And then, if I were trying to hide what I was doing, I would cremate the body without sewing it up or taking photos. If I were making an example of my victim, I would take pictures of my victim without sewing up the body. So why was the body sewn up? And who took the picture? The whole thing just seems strange.
Okay, so you choose to publish the article without doing any research. That’s fine, it’s your blog.
Then someone posts who has an explanation for the photos that actually seems to make sense (they are autopsy photos), and you announce that you won’t listen to him because 1) he has an interest in the topic (like the Epoch Times *doesn’t*?) and 2) you believe all criticism of the Chinese government whether it’s true or not because the Chinese government is bad.
Moof, I expected better of you.
Even bad people and organisations can have stories made up about them, or true stories distorted to make them more publishable. I don’t know enough about Falun Gong to make any judgement about their persecution, and all I know about China is that the people I know who have been there really liked it. (None of the people I know who visited were arrested; this might contribute to their evaluation of their experience.) I don’t have a side to take. Mr. Fletcher might have an axe to grind, but clearly so do the Epoch Times, so my own bias would be to ignore them both.
This has nothing to do with taking sides. It’s about respect for critical thinking.
August 29th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
Peace Alison, and thank you for your comment. I will try to reply to you as best as I am able.
The reason Mr. Fletcher’s comments and links are still in here at all is because I was trying to not squelch “discussion” in the thread … however, as with the Circumcision threads, I do not want to allow the thread to be “moderated” by outside voices, especially voices that come across as being more than a little bit politically interested in a subject.
As I said previously - and am reiterating - I have no knowledge about Falon Gong, or about Epoch Magazine. I’m not going to research them, and nor am I going to research other side of the discussion. I simply do not have the time to do either side any justice.
The post stays … as do my warnings about Mr. Fletcher. Here are the reasons, for you to accept, or reject, as you will:
1) Mr. Fletcher has no less than six blogs he’s taken the personal trouble of creating, all of them anti-Falon Gong … plus a bit. He is more than a little interested in putting forth his political ideas - which is fine. He has blogs he can do that on, and has been allowed to place his links on my own blog, although I felt a need to point out the nature of this apparent interest. Also, realizing that he even objected to me reading about the downside of communism … left me with a very bad taste in my mouth. I have some rather strong opinions regarding communism which I will refrain from exploring in detail at this time.
I would no more, through my silence, defend the extremism I found on Mr. Fletcher’s blogs than I would use my blog to give credence to the extremism that leads people to try to convince others that the Holocaust never happened … and in fact, I see a parallel on one of Fr. Fletcher’s blogs - which is devoted entirely to his insistence that Tiananmen Square never happened.
2) The “piece of spam” that I received was, indeed, the first - and last - of its type to hit my inbox. And you’re quite right, I did not research it. I’m certainly guilty as charged, and for that, I apologize. I did, however, make it plain that I had not researched it at the outset … thus putting a caution on my post for readers to be aware of.
All the same … if that was the first and only of that type of spam to hit my inbox, it contained the same type of information I’ve been receiving for many years now from another source - a source that I personally have a great deal of respect for: “The Voice of the Martyrs“. The general information is not new to me.
I haven’t been to China, and neither have I attended a torture session - or even an autopsy. I admit my ignorance. That said, the post - and all of the discussions pro and con - will stay, if for no other reason than this sort of thing should be discussed.
That’s why I invite - and relish - comments and questions like your own … but take serious issue with “outside moderators” and arguments made by people with political motivations - with the apparent intention of hijacking a discussion… and who do not at least disclose their interest when they comment.
If there are other things you’d like me to comment on, please feel free to ask. All I can give you is my opinion - my reasons for doing what I do. Thanks for taking the time to read - and comment.
September 4th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
I disagree with Bobby’s views who’s been on all the blogs promoting his pro-communist line. And it is true that the communists really hates this Epoch Times paper who dares print about the persecution of Falun Gong, Christians, journalists, and rights defenders http://www.theepochtimes.com/211,107,,1.html , etc. Where else would we read about this - as it happens?
But, it’s not hard to figure out that the large incisions on the body (int the photo) suggest that organs have been removed in an unethical way–they can get tissue from the throat area–in this case they took the heart and the brain. According to the Kilgour Matas report confirming these organ harvesting targeting Falun Gong to be true and happening ( http://investigation.go.saveinter.net ), usually they take all the vital organs they need from the body to be sold to the highest bidder. A kidney is sold for $60,000 and a liver goes for $130,000. In China, the organ extractions from the Falun Gong are done in a very barbaric way, mutilating the bodies that are cremated afterwards. It is doubtful that this macabre practice will stop with the new regulations of August l–as we know the cadre rarely abide to their own rules,especially when there is a lucrative market involved–and unless our governments push to stop these atrocities that amount to genocide. http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/issuesideas/story.html?id=6a97d044-615a-496b-b7d6-e79e36636592
This link shows the denial from the regime and a response from the authors of the report on organ harvesting.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-8-10/44796.html
And this is the statement from the Falun Gong group responding on more denial issues submitted by Harry Wu. On many blogs Bobby is using Harry’s report to discredit the Kilgourr-Matas report
Statement Concerning Harry Wu’s Efforts to Undermine Organ Harvesting Reports
Whose interest is served by attacking reports of widespread organ harvesting and killing of Falun Gong practitioners?
(8/15/2006 3:20)
NEW YORK (Falun Dafa Information Center) – Harry Wu, head of the China Information Centre, has made a number of statements attacking and undermining reports that Falun Gong practitioners have been targeted for organ harvesting by the Chinese authorities. He has actively approached the media and members of US Congress to persuade them the allegations are fraudulent and has even accused Falun Gong practitioners of fabricating the story, even though the initial witnesses and investigators of this atrocity are not Falun Gong practitioners.
The Falun Dafa Information Center feels it is time to respond to Mr. Wu’s actions so the public can discern the facts for themselves.
We acknowledge the work that Mr. Wu has done over the years in exposing many of the atrocities in China. It was Mr. Wu himself who, years ago, was instrumental in bringing to light the PRC’s gruesome policy of harvesting organs from death row inmates. Of course, even petty thieves can be sentenced to death in the PRC, let alone political prisoners.
In 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced its aim to “eradicate Falun Gong at any cost.†Now, with the lucrative organ harvesting trade already in place, the witnesses’ claims, shocking as they would seem under different circumstances, only confirmed our greatest fears. After all, the Chinese regime considers Falun Gong its No. 1 enemy, and practitioners are treated as non-persons who can be tortured and murdered with no consequence. In recent years, tens of thousands of these innocent men and women have been locked in labor camps and not allowed any contact with the outside world or have simply gone missing.
Given such a background, these shocking claims—of organs being harvested from a readily accessible supply of captive, healthy people who practice Falun Gong—are not only believable, but also paint a picture that is highly probable.
Our reaction to the witness accounts was to immediately call for help from the US government and international agencies and to call for an investigation. We were thus shocked and puzzled to hear that Mr. Wu had taken it upon himself to write a secret letter to certain members of Congress undermining our efforts before he had a chance to speak with us or meet with the witnesses. If he truly felt it was a “greater expression of sympathy and support to keep them [Falun Gong] from straying too far from the facts†as he claims, why try to keep the letter hidden from us?
In fact, Mr. Wu already seemed intent on refuting the allegations before he fully understood the situation. His March 21, 2006 letter to members of Congress stated that news of a concentration camp in Sujiatun was fabricated, and that his position was based on “first hand investigations conducted.†Yet, in a later statement he says his “team†did not investigate the hospital in Sujiatun until March 27. The witnesses saw Mr. Wu’s disposition as hostile and refused to meet with him under such circumstances.
It should be noted that where Mr. Wu failed to find evidence, others have found plenty. Most notable are independent investigators David Matas, an international human rights lawyer, and David Kilgour, a former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia Pacific. In their 140-page report (http://investigation.go.saveinter.net), they state:
We believe that there has been and continues today to be large scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners… Our conclusion comes not from any one single item of evidence, but rather the piecing together of all the evidence we have considered. Each portion of the evidence we have considered is, in itself, verifiable and, in most cases, incontestable. Put together, they paint a damning whole picture.
Regarding the fact that journalists and diplomats visited Sujiatun weeks after the initial reports surfaced and found no evidence that the site was being used for organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners, Matas and Kilgour considered the findings of such show-tours insignificant: “We would not have expected these visitors to find anything… An operation leaves no trace in an operating room after it is completed. Operating rooms are cleaned up, sanitized, made antiseptic after each and every operation.†Instead, Matas and Kilgour highlighted a series of telephone interviews with medical staff from hospitals across 10 provinces in China. During the interviews, these staff members openly admit that organs used in transplant operations at their hospitals come from Falun Gong practitioners.
With all due respect to Mr. Wu’s many accomplishments and the difficult time he spent while imprisoned in the laogai 20 years ago, things have evolved in often terrifying ways since then. He assumes many things are not feasible or are false just because, perhaps, he himself did not experience them decades ago.
In many ways the labor camp system’s operations have become more covert in recent years. How could Mr. Wu know which new torture method is promoted among the prison guards today? Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China are living this reality today and every day. They are, sadly, the real experts.
Mr. Wu says there are no facilities that can hold over 1,000 prisoners or detainees either in Sujiatun or its vicinity. China is a big place. If authorities want to hide more than 1,000 people from external investigators, they can. By now Mr. Wu should know about the expansive network of hidden tunnels and thousands of acres of underground facilities in Shenyang. Even Chinese state-run media has widely reported on them.
In another instance, Mr. Wu finds the idea of 4,500 live organ extractions carried out over three years to be “impossible in theory and unfeasible in practice.†Given the fact that these victims are to be cremated afterwards anyway, medical doctors have said it is now possible to remove organs quickly enough (some in 20 minutes) to reach this figure.
Throughout his career, Mr. Wu has shown how the Chinese regime does not follow rules or laws in treating labor camp prisoners. It is, therefore, surprising to see Mr. Wu now assume that the Chinese penal system, including hospitals closely tied to labor camps, strictly follow the rules of “organ transplantation†when dealing with Falun Gong detainees.
As a result of Mr. Wu’s attempts to discredit the witness reports, some members of Congress have chosen to dismiss this humanitarian issue when they could put real pressure on the regime to end such atrocities. Whose interests, then, is Mr. Wu really serving with his campaign? Whatever his intentions, it is clear his actions have not been constructive. We urge him to reconsider his approach and instead continue to contribute his valuable lifetime knowledge to exposing the crimes of the CCP.
The witness reports are horrifying, and in a way, we all wish they weren’t true. But when a Chinese surgeon cheerfully tells a potential transplant customer they have a supply of livers from Falun Gong practitioners, from living bodies, what are we to conclude? How should we, as human beings and members of the international community, react to this kind of information? For the CCP to hold spiritual practitioners in camps like livestock until it is time to slaughter them for their organs is an evil greater than we can imagine. If it is one day fully revealed, this is an issue that could shake our humanity to the core.
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NEWS - Aug 15, 2006
Falun Dafa Information Center, http://www.faluninfo.net