OTTAWA — A 45-page report based on an independent investigation by former Canadian Secretary of State (Asia Pacific) David Kilgour and international human rights lawyer David Matas into allegations of organ harvesting from living Falun Gong prisoners in China was released Thursday at a press conference on Canada's Parliament Hill. The report finds these allegations credible.
The result is not a surprise. Last month Kilgour spoke of the existence of "persuasive material" supporting the claims of organ harvesting. Earlier this week Kilgour told the Canada's CTV News that he is now convinced the allegations are true. "They take both kidneys, then the heart and the skin and the corneas and the liver, and your body is then thrown in the incinerator," he said.
The report is the result of "weeks of research, evidence verification, and witness interviews in Canada and the United States," Kilgour said. In an interview with The Epoch Times Tuesday, Matas added that their investigation included phoning into China.
The Epoch Times first broke the story of organs being taken from living Falun Gong practitioners on March 9, publishing an interview with a journalist who had worked in the area of Shenyang City in Northeastern China and claimed to have sure knowledge of this horrific practice. That report led in turn to intensive investigations by The Epoch Times and by the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong. (W.O.I.P.F.G.)
Transcripts of earlier phone investigations posted on the website of W.O.I.P.F.G. provide a disturbing glimpse into the organ harvesting.
In one conversation with a doctor at a Shanghai hospital, when asked whether there are organs from Falun Gong practitioners, the doctor replied, "What we have here is all this type."
Falun Gong's Clearwisdom.net website has continuously published leads from sources inside China meant to assist investigators.
One article tells of Falun Gong practitioners in Shijiazhuang Forced Labour Camp being given blood tests during the first six months of 2005 as part of a so-called "medical check-up." Blood matching is required for finding compatible donors for organ transplants.
Another article points to a recent advertisement by the Armed Police General Division Hospital in Hebei Province offering an "ample supply of donor organs" at its organ transplant centre.
One Clearwisdom report noted that, "within a week, between June 8 and June 15, 2006, surgeons at the Anzhen Hospital in Beijing performed three heart transplants." "According to a witness, a group of people wearing camouflage uniforms delivered the hearts," the report continued. "The medical staff was told not to answer phone calls from Falun Gong practitioners and not to reveal any related information," according to the report.
Kilgour met with Chinese embassy staff member Mr. Sun June 23 to discuss the terms and conditions of a fact-finding trip to China. According to Matas, Kilgour found instead that "what Mr. Sun was interested in doing was refuting the allegations." In a subsequent CTV News report Chinese diplomat Zhang Weidong asserted that "These allegations are based on lies."
However, Matas said he and Kilgour "are prepared to follow up their report and do further investigations." He added that they would still be interested in going to China "if the Chinese government is willing subsequently to respond to our request."
The Chinese government routinely rejects criticism of its atrocious human rights record as interference of its internal affairs.
Matas has the opposite opinion. "It is a matter of international concerns and not a matter of internal affairs," he told The Epoch Times , "because we have a common bond and concern and solidarity with all human beings, no matter where they are."
"When human rights are violated, it's the rights of all humanity that are violated, not just the rights of the individual who is violated," Matas said.
He noted that their report includes recommendations for the Canadian government and public as well as other governments in the international community.
Additional reporting by Masha Loftus.
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