Reflector (Calgary, Canada): Organs for sale
Imagine a thirteen-year-old girl lying on a stretcher in the cold corridors
of an operating room. Her appearance is beyond lean due to previous weeks,
perhaps months, of starvation. She has been terribly beaten and now, she is
given a mild anesthetic. Though she is still conscious, a doctor hovers over her
and proceeds to remove her corneas and then, moves down--next are her kidneys.
Alive, though unable to fight back, her body is transferred to its fiery demise
inside an incinerator. In the past weeks, like stories have emerged, which have some wondering how,
when echoes of "never again" still resound in a post-WWII air, such a
horrific events could take place. Recently, several witnesses have come forth in the Epoch Times, an
independent Chinese newspaper, claiming such a scenario in China. The anonymous
sources, which range from a Chinese journalist to ex-government employees, all
claim that the Chinese government has detained as many as 6000 Falun Gong
practitioners since 2001. In special facilities designed to detain prisoners, they have been harvesting
organs for profit - mainly corneas, kidneys and livers. Their bodies, still
alive, are thrown into incinerators, destroying the evidence. The sources also claim that two-thirds of the detainees have already been
killed. One such facility is said to be located at Sujiatun hospital in Shenyang,
the capital city of China's Liaoning Province. China has been accused before China has been notorious in harvesting the organs of criminals for many
years, said David Matas, a practicing lawyer from Winnipeg who specializes in
human rights, immigration and refugee law. Matas also serves as the Director of the International Human Rights Centre
and Lawyers for Social Responsibility. "This has been a consistent problem," Matas said. "However,
recent information that the phenomenon has spread to the Falun Gong is
disturbing." Falun Gong, a strain of Buddhism which employs meditative exercises, has been
banned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1999. The CCP has labeled the
group [and persecuted it brutally]. Thousands of practitioners are believed to be dead, while hundreds of
thousands have been detained, jailed, and forced into labour camps. Many claim to have been tortured under, what the CCP has called, their
"re-education through labour system," and what former CCP leader Jiang
Zemin labeled his goal to "eradicate Falun Gong." Such allegations have sparked an investigation by UN torture investigator,
Manfred Nowak, as well as the attention of Amnesty International. As of December 2005, 61 lawsuits had been filed in about 30 countries
charging Jiang and several other senior officials with genocide, torture, and
crimes against humanity for their roles in the treatment of Falun Gong in
mainland China. However, the International media has remained largely silent on the issue,
claiming lack of evidence. "There are millions of stories on the persecution of Falun Gong in
China", said Matas. However, China's economic and political influence has contributed to the
secrecy of the issue, he said. Stories from the prison camps Patrick*, 34, is a PhD student of Mechanical Engineering at the U of C. He is
also a practitioner of Falun Gong. Patrick came to Canada in August of 2005 after spending three years in a
Chinese Prison. After being caught for downloading Falun Gong information over the Internet,
he was sentenced to three years, while his wife, Alice*, was sentenced to
twelve. While in prison, Patrick said he endured severe physical and mental torture
by officers. Initially, he was sent to a detention centre before being transferred to
jail. "At one point," he said, "I spent six months of solitary
confinement in six square meters and utterly deprived of human contact. Often,
they tortured me by keeping me awake for a days at a time." After spending over a year in the detention centre, Patrick was transferred
to a Chinese labour camp. "At first, I was forced into heavy labour until they found out I was a
graduate student at China's most famous university, Tsinghua University in
Beijing," he said. "Then, they asked me to develop the prison
management program." Patrick spoke of other colleagues and friends who were also arrested, many of
whom he cannot find. "I cannot get information on them," he said, "they have been
lost for years -- even their family members do not know where they are." A short history of Falun Gong Falun Gong was introduced to the public in 1992. The practice is based on
[Master Li's] teachings of truth, compassion and tolerance. Falun Gong
incorporates meditation into its practice. The practice quickly gained popularity in China. Even high-ranking government
officials were partaking in Li's lectures and readings. In China, a strictly controlled society, mass organization without consent of
the government is unheard of. As a result, many feel that by early 1999, former leader of the CCP Jiang
felt threatened. Rumors flourished that he wished to make Falun Gong illegal. Consequently, Jiang personally denounced the practice [...] In the next few months, large silent protests were held by Falun Gong members
against Jiang. By April 1999, the CCP had declared it an [slanderous word
omitted] and the campaign against the practice began. Persecuted for their beliefs Patrick believes that practicing Falun Gong improved his health. "I had previously suffered from insomnia, but Falun Gong helped me
recover and allowed me to do well in my research work." Currently, he is trying to seek help from the Canadian government to rescue
his wife. "I don't know how she is," he said. "Since moving to Canada, I
have been unable to contact her." After a long pause, Patrick began again. "During all of this, they [the CCP] tried to ask me to change my
belief," he said. "I don't understand why," he said, "we are a peaceful
people." *names have been changed to protect the identities of sources
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