FDI: Exposure Prompts Surge of Killing in Chinese Hospitals, Falun Gong Bodies Carved Up for Organs
--Officials Hasten to Destroy Evidence, Cash in on Concentration Camps NEWS - Apr. 06, 2006 Falun Dafa Information Center [ http://faluninfo.net/ ]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Gail Rachlin 917-757-9780
Levi Browde: 646-415-0998
Erping Zhang: 646-533-6147
NEW YORK (Falun Dafa Information Center) - Undercover investigators disclosed today that, in response to public exposure, officials in China have now begun a massive, deadly campaign to destroy evidence of concentration camps holding practitioners of Falun Gong; at the camps, the Falun Gong are killed after having their organs extracted for sale. The situation has now escalated to an even more alarming level.
The investigators said today that hospitals in at least eight Chinese provinces are working overtime to perform a flurry of surgeries, excising detainees' organs, so as to "cash in" on the bodies of the currently-held Falun Gong prisoners of conscience. Post operation, victims are to be killed and bodies cremated, or moved to other, hidden locations.
The organ "harvesting" spree appears directly connected to recent legislation in China, titled "Interim Regulation for Human Organ Transplant Practice," announced March 28, by China's Ministry of Health, that would in theory outlaw forced organ removal. The legislation will not go into effect until July 1--giving profit-bent officials a three-month window for wanton seizure of organs. The new legislation, the Center notes, closely followed disclosures of one such concentration camp for Falun Gong, in the Sujiatun district of Shenyang City, on March 6 (news). In the past China took no such measures, even after testimonial before the United States Congress detailing China's secret organ trade.
The overall trajectory is clear: the camps are exposed; Chinese Communist officials panic, discuss what to do (for three weeks); a massive cover-up effort is launched, including blanket denials and cosmetic legislation; before the legislation takes effect a frenzy to turn bodies into profit begins.
"What we're seeing in China is a systematic cover-up, one in which Falun Gong practitioners--tens of thousands it appears--are either being killed at an accelerated rate for their organs or shipped to other camps and facilities to eliminate evidence," says Center spokesperson Mr. Erping Zhang. "We are deeply, terribly concerned by reports of killing in mass numbers, and unfortunately, have every grounds to believe the statements being made."
"Regrettably, it appears China's regime is acting much more quickly on this matter than the Western press, governments, and investigative organizations. SARS showed us to what lengths China's rulers will go to cover up and save face, and in this case the stakes for them are infinitely higher," Zhang said.
According to investigators, hospitals and transplant centers in Heilongjiang, Hunan, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Yunnan, Anhui, Shan'xi, and Xinjiang are working overtime to perform forced transplant operations. Hospital staff members told undercover investigators that prospective patients should "come in quickly" if they want transplants. Staff added that they can find matching organs in as little as one or two days; under normal circumstances, such as in the U.S., such procedures typically take two years. One hospital staff member remarked that it would be difficult to so quickly arrange a transplant "after this batch of organs is used up."
Corroborating this picture are the remarks of a doctor in Shandong province, telephoned by undercover investigators working for the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, disclosed last week. The investigator said, "I want a kidney from those who practice Falun Gong, one that's totally healthy," to which the doctor replied, "We will definitely have a lot of suppliers like that in April." When asked why, he replied that, "I can't tell you that because it involves... Anyway, there is no need to go into that. I cannot go into that with you."
"Let's be clear on what's happening here," Zhang said today. "Falun Gong practitioners are being carved up and killed to provide a supply of lucrative organs. The international community must act, and it must act now. If we have learned anything from the genocides of the 20th century, it is that for horrific tragedy to take place, all it takes is silence and delay by those who look on."
A wealth of information surrounding the camps in China has emerged over the past month, with three sources from China testifying in grisly detail. Informants thus far include a journalist from China; a hospital staff member from Sujiatun, whose husband performed the surgeries described above, on live prisoners; and a military doctor from the Shenyang military zone. The latter said that Sujiatun is just one of 36 such facilities throughout China, and said the number of Sujiatun detainees--Falun Gong adherents--reached a peak of 10,000 in early 2005.
Of the camps throughout China, the largest camp, codenamed "672-S," is said to hold over 120,000 people, among whom are Falun Gong and other prisoners of conscience. "Falun Gong practitioners... are no longer regarded as human beings, but as raw materials for commercial products," the military doctor told The Epoch Times newspaper, adding that, "The Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee decided to treat Falun Gong practitioners as 'class enemies' and handle them in any manner that is economically profitable."
The current round of investigations into the camps is being led by the The Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China (CIPFG) , a civil group started by the Falun Dafa Association and Minghui website after the Sujiatun camp came to light.
A spokesperson for the Coalition, Dr. Sherry Zhang, can be reached at: 1-415-845-5295.
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NEWS - Apr. 06, 2006
Falun Dafa Information Center, www.faluninfo.net
Background
Founded in 1999, the Falun Dafa Information Center is a New York-based organization that documents the rights violations of adherents of Falun Gong (or "Falun Dafa") taking place in the People's Republic of China. In July of 1999 China's autocratic Communist Party launched an unlawful campaign of arrests, violence, and propaganda with the intent of "eradicating" the apolitical practice; it is believed certain leaders feared the influence of the practice's 100 million adherents. The campaign has since grown in violence and scope, with millions having been detained or sent to forced labor camps. The Center has verified details of over 2,800 deaths and over 44,000 cases of torture in custody (reports / sources). Falun Gong is a traditional-style Buddhist "qigong" practice, with roots in the Chinese heritage of cultivating the mind/body for health and spiritual growth.