Profil Magazine (Austria): Lost in Transplantation

Following his recent interview with the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, Robert Misik of Profil, the second largest magazine in Austria, published an article at the beginning of March entitled, “Lost in Transplantation”. The article detailed Matas and Kilgour’s finding that a source of organs in Chinese transplants is Falun Gong practitioners. Mr. Nowak, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights’ Special Rapporteur on Torture, demanded a response to the series of allegations from the Chinese government within the week.

Matas & Kilgour’s report sent shock waves

The article quoted China’s Deputy Minister of Ministry of Public Health, Huang Jiefu, as saying last year, “Most of the organs used in transplants, except for a small portion from organ donors in traffic accidents, came from executed prisoners.” This assertion was dismissed by David Matas and David Kilgour. After careful examination of the Chinese organ transplant mechanism, Canadian human rights lawyer David Matas and Canada’s former Secretary of State for the Asia Pacific region David Kilgour produced a disturbing investigative report. Their conclusion was that in the past six years, Chinese organ transplant rose from non-existence to become a highly profitable trade. Notably, the transplant business, which lacked transparency, began to thrive exactly when Falun Gong followers started to be persecuted on a large scale.

Mr. Nowak demanded a response from the Chinese regime within a week

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights’ Special Rapporteur on Torture, Vienna human rights lawyer, Mr. Nowak, demanded the Chinese government’s response to this allegation with a deadline by the end of this week (18th of March).

Nowak said in the interview, “It is a fact that Falun Gong has been subjected to severe persecution since 1999. Equally indisputable is the quantity of organ transplants increased substantially at the same time when Falun Gong was first cracked down on. Chinese medical institution also published data indicating sixty thousand total transplant operations from 2000 to 2005.”

Nowak thought the statement that organs came from voluntary donors worth investigating. “For religious and cultural reasons, rarely anyone in the Chinese society is willing to donate organs. The Chinese regime also admitted this.”

To Huang’s argument that organs came from willing donation of executed prisoners, Nowak replied, “We do not know how many prisoners are executed in China. China is the only country that does not publish this data. According to estimates by non-governmental organisations such as Amnesty International, there are one thousand five hundred to four thousand executions each year. According to the Canadian report, many hospitals promise to potential clients that their demand can be met promptly. Organs can be obtained within a few weeks. This requires very strong organisation.” “Due to their lifestyle and social type, Falun Gong adherents are well suited as organ donors. They do not smoke or drink. Most of them are between the ages of twenty five to thirty five.”

Nowak was waiting for a reply from the Chinese government. “Now the Chinese government is required to respond with facts on each point of the allegations, e.g. concrete data on executions, the source of organs for transplants. It is not enough to categorically deny the large amount of deduced evidence from a variety of different angles.”

In disbelief, Nowak produced a piece of correspondence from the Chinese government that categorically denied the allegations. It was not even two pages in length. Nowak said, “This is for sure not enough.” The deduced evidence in Matas and Kilgour’s report was overwhelmingly compelling.

Chinese doctors admitted to using Falun Gong organs in telephone conversations

The article quoted investigators’ telephone dialogues with China from the report. One doctor in a transplant centre admitted that they currently had organs from young and healthy Falun Gong practitioners. Another surgeon said that hospitals in Guanzhou had organs from healthy Falun Gong followers. They were all in their thirties. “We only choose the best as we have to guarantee the quality of the organ transplants.”

Finally the article pointed out that market, totalitarianism, and widespread inequality created the fatal chaos in China. Hospitals advertised shamelessly to patients that in China doctors cooperated seamlessly with the government and the judiciary. Like a sarcastic joke, banners on hospital walls bore communist slogans, one of which claimed, “Take people as the basis.”