Wednesday July 19, 2006
Canadian politicians can help bring to an end to the killing of imprisoned
Falun Gong members so their organs can be harvested, a team of Falun Gong
practitioners from Toronto said Tuesday during a stop in Greater Sudbury.
"According to the report written by David Kilgour and David Matas, in the
past five years, China has done about 60,000 organ transplants and only 18,000
of them are named," said Elaine Xie. "That means they transplanted
from 42,000 unknowns."
Those "unknowns" said Xie, came from among the hundreds of thousands
of Falun Gong members in China's prisons - imprisoned they allege because the
government views their practice of meditation and exercises with teachings based
on the universal principle of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance as a
national threat.
The report Xie referred to was released July 6 by Kilgour, a former Liberal MP
and secretary of state for the Asia Pacific region, and Matas, an immigration,
refugee and international human rights lawyer based in Winnipeg.
Looking into the allegation that Falun Gong members were being killed for organ
donation purposes, the report concluded the allegation was true. It determined
that the body parts being removed included hearts, kidneys, livers and corneas,
which were sold at high prices.
The day the report was released, the Chinese government issued a statement
dismissing it.
People in need of organs, explained Xie, visit a Chinese government website (The
China International Transplantation Network Assistance Centre) and make
inquiries.
Until April, an organ price list was featured.
"Right now, there are more and more rich people in Japan and Korea perhaps
who come forward for an organ transplant because the waiting time is very
short," said Xie. "It can be as short as a few days."
After planned visits to the offices of Sudbury MP Diane Marleau, Sudbury MP Rick
Bartolucci and Greater Sudbury Dave Courtemanche, the five-member Falun Gong
team was heading to Sault Ste. Marie
Other teams will be visiting Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan shortly to
spread the word about the killing of Falun Gong members in China for their
organs and seek Canadian government support to help stop it.
Xie said the SOS Car Tour to Condemn Organ Harvest Camp in China has already
received the support of the City of Oshawa, which passed a motion condemning
what is happening to Falun Gong members and called on the federal government to
apply pressure on China to stop the practice.
Category: Organ Harvesting