By Li Jingfei, Minghui/Clearwisdom Correspondent
(Clearwisdom.net) At
noon on September 29, 2006, the United States Congress held its first
hearing on allegations of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) organ
harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners. Four witnesses
testified at the hearing. More than 100 people, including House
representatives, legislative assistants, officials and advisers from
the US government, and reporters attended the hearing. Senior
congressman Dana Rohrabacher of the House Committee on International
Relations urged the US government to take further action to stop
these crimes.
Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher
Democratic Congressman William Delahunt of Massachusetts
Four witnesses testify at the hearing
Dr. Allison testifies at the hearing
David Kilgour and David Matas testify at
the hearing
Congressman Rohrabacher, Chair of the
Subcommittee of Oversight and Investigations of the House Committee on
International Relations said during an interview after the hearing,
"What we have learned today is that there is
a monstrous crime going on in this world. Just repression of people's
religious freedom is bad enough. But for the government of China,
they take those religious practitioners, who are no threat to anyone
else in their own country, but then to take them to prison, and
execute them in order to get their body parts to sell for profit.
This is a new level of evil. And today we heard the evidence of this
evil exists, and now it's up to us to put pressure on the Chinese
government to end this evil." Congressman Rohrabacher said that
facing such evil in the world, we cannot keep silent. We should not
ignore such evil just because of commercial interests from such a
totalitarian regime.
David Kilgour, former Canadian
Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific, David Matas, International Human
Rights Lawyer, Erping Zhang, Falun Gong spokesperson and Executive
Director of the Association for Asian Research, and Kirk C. Allison,
Ph.D., Director of the Program in Human Rights and Health, School of
Public Health and Associate Director of the Program in Human Rights
and Medicine at the Medical School of the University of Minnesota testified at
the hearing.
CCP's feeble response to the
allegation of live organ harvesting
Mr. Kilgour and Mr. Matas introduced
their "Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong
Practitioners in China", which aroused attention in
many European countries. They called on the international community
to stop these crimes against humanity.
Mr. Matas said in the hearing, "We
examined every avenue of proof and disproof available to us, eighteen
in all."
Mr. Kilgour said that all the evidence brought them to their conclusion. "One month after the report was
published, the Chinese government's only dispute was that we
spelled the name of two provinces wrong."
Mr. Matas said, "We are reinforced in
our conclusions by the feeble response of the government of China.
Despite all their resources and inside knowledge, they have not
provided any information to counter our report. Instead, they have
attacked us personally and, more worrisome, attacked the Falun Gong
with the very sort of verbal abuse which we have identified as one of
the reasons we believe these atrocities are occurring.
"The repressive and secretive nature
of Chinese governance made it difficult for us to assess the claims.
We were not allowed entry to China, though we tried. Organ harvesting
is not done in public. If the claims are true, the participants are either victims who are killed and their bodies cremated or
perpetrators who are guilty of crimes against humanity and unlikely to confess."
Mr. Kilgour mentioned the situation of human
rights attorney Gao Zhisheng, who has been detained by CCP since
August 15, "I must also give credit to Amnesty International for
putting out an emergency bulletin recently about the arrest of
China's most courageous lawyer, Gao Zhisheng.
Indeed, it was Gao who invited David Matas and me to come to China to
investigate the matter of organ seizures from Falun Gong prisoners,
although we were not granted visas by the government of China."
Mr. Matas said that under CCP rule, people cannot defend themselves. The victims have no other choice but to rely on the international community. The international
community cannot be controlled. The United States cannot be
controlled. US and other countries must stand out to speak for the victims.
Congressman Rohrabacher said that the
report by Mr. Kilgour and Mr. Matas caught the attention of media
across the world. He hopes through this hearing, the US and Congress
will pay more attention to this report.
Mr. Erping Zhang:
Speaking up about the persecution with no other choice
Mr. Erping Zhang said, "The regime
has robbed Falun Gong of any voice by burning its books in mass rallies, banning all Falun Gong related
literature, and blocking all Falun Gong websites and even Western news reports. Under this
circumstance we have been left with no choice but to speak out. Our goal has been simple and singular:
to let people hear our side of the story, to expose those violating our rights, and to, by doing
so, end the genocide we face. We are not interested in political power. We would love nothing
more than to meditate quietly in parks. But when people beat down our doors and arrest and
torture our parents, friends, and children, when they try to wipe out our very existence, we feel
duty-bound to speak out.
"Secondly, I would point out that
Falun Gong is not deviant, weird, or dangerous, as China's regime has tried to portray it.
Consider the bigger picture. For one thing, all of the accusations
the regime has made came overnight, with
the banning of Falun Gong in 1999. During the seven years before then, from 1992-1999, Falun Gong
was practiced by millions and was totally mainstream, and even praised by various official bodies
of the Chinese state. That is to say, the accusations were a sudden political invention. And these
accusations, it is worth noting, are something Chinese officials do not allow outsiders to
investigate; those who try are arrested. Or from another perspective, we might note how none of
the accusations made by the regime are made in Taiwan, another Chinese society. There,
hundreds of thousands on the small island practice Falun Gong freely.
"Our efforts are done fully for the
welfare of China's people, and even, insofar as we seek to uphold the law and constitution, for
the sake of the country. There is nothing 'anti-China' about supporting constitutionally-guaranteed
rights when they are abused, or pointing out the perpetrator. Surely 'China', after all,
is the people of that vast country -- and not its unelected rulers, who so regularly abuse and exploit her
people for their narrow, private interests."
Congressman of Massachusetts
praises Falun Gong practitioners in his hometown
Congressman Delahunt said in the
hearing, "I share your concerns about the Chinese government,
especially in the area of human rights. Its record in terms of human
rights, it's truly been abysmal. And what has happened to the
practitioners of Falun Gong, is particularly appalling. My home city,
which is Quincy, Massachusetts, has a very large Asian population.
There is a large group of Falun Gong practitioners among that
specific community. They are extraordinary people. They are warm,
they are compassionate. They make extraordinary contributions to my
city and to the region.
"I review the CCP's contempt to the
rule of law that leads to corruption and waste. Corruption undercut
all the economic gains China has made in the last several years.
Unless China couples its transition to capitalism, with moves
towards democracy and free expression, and human rights, a genuine
commitment to human rights, it will never ever able to reach its full
potential. And the tragedy is that Chinese people will pay the
price."
CCP's double strategy in the
persecution of Falun Gong
Dr. Kirk C. Allison, Director of the
Program in Human Rights and Health, School of Public Health;
Associate Director of the Program in Human Rights and Medicine,
Medical School, University of Minnesota, said, "My concern is
general as I am not a Falun Gong practitioner. Since July 1999 the
systematic persecution of nonviolent Falun Gong practitioners
constitutes the single greatest concentration of human rights
violations in China against a specific group since the Cultural
Revolution. A program of ideological eradication has been
systematically pursued under a double strategy: Publicly with high
visibility in terms of state propaganda, but hermetically in actions
of detainment and sanction outside conventional judicial processes.
The systematic program of ideological eradication of Falun Gong
coincided with an inexplicable increase in whole organ
transplantation, and international organ transplant tourism to China.
This raises the question of the organ source.
"Concerning Falun Gong practitioners
as nonvoluntary victims, the most compelling evidence has been
compiled by David Kilgour and David Matas in the Report into
Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China
of July 6, 2006."
Four witnesses put forward concrete
recommendations
The four witnesses called on the US
Congress and administrative branch to take all opportunities to raise
the organ harvesting issue to Chinese government leaders and take
concrete steps to stop the atrocities and the persecution.
Mr. Kilgour mentioned 17
recommendations in the report, "Our report has 17 different
recommendations. Virtually nothing to prevent the harvesting of
organs from Falun Gong practitioners has currently been applied. If
the government is serious, all of our measures should be enacted with
deliberate speed. Our first recommendation, of course, is that the
harvesting practice from Falun Gong prisoners must stop immediately.
"Some of the others:
"#3-Independent human rights
organizations should conduct their own investigations as to whether the allegations are true.
"#11-All detention facilities,
including forced labor camps, should be open for international inspection by the
International Committee of the Red Cross or other humanitarian organization."
Mr. Zhang called on Congress to pass a
resolution to deny entry of all Chinese officials and doctors who
participate in the persecution of Falun Gong and organ harvesting
from living Falun Gong practitioners. If they enter the US, they
would be brought to justice.
Mr. Matas suggested that US Congress
Representatives urge the United States and other countries to request
China to answer questions from UN special
Rapporteur on torture and solve the problems.
Hoping to hold hearings again
Congressman Rohrabacher said that if he
would be Chair for next term, he would hold hearings on the organ harvesting issue.
Besides inviting US government officials, medical doctors would also
be invited to answer questions.
Congressman Rohrabacher expressed his
regret several times that officials from the US State Department did
not testify in the hearing. When something like this occurs, the US
State Department should respond formally.
Posting date: 10/2/2006
Original article date: 10/2/2006
Category: News & Media Reports
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/10/1/139092.html