David Matas and David Kilgour from Bloody Harvest: The Killing of Falun Gong for Their Organs

“When we began our work, we had no views whether the allegations were true or untrue. The allegations were so shocking that they are almost impossible to believe.

Our preference would have been to find the allegations to untrue. The allegations, if true, represented a disgusting form of evil, which, despite all the depravities humanity has seen, was new to this planet. The very horror made us reel back in disbelief. But disbelief did not mean that the allegations were untrue. 

[…] Since the Holocaust, it is impossible to rule out any form of depravity. Whether an alleged evil has been perpetrated can be determined only by considering the facts.

[…] Our conclusion is that there has been and continues today to be large-scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners. We have concluded that the government of China and its agencies in numerous parts of the country, in particular hospitals but also detention centres and ‘people’s courts,’ since 1999 have put to death a large but unknown number of Falun Gong prisoners of conscience. Their vital organs, including kidneys, livers, corneas and hearts, were seized involuntarily for sale at high prices, sometimes to foreigners, who normally face long waits for voluntary donations of such organs in their home countries.

Our conclusion comes not from any single item of evidence, but rather the piecing together of all the evidence we have considered. Each portion of evidence we considered is, in itself, verifiable and, in most cases, incontestable. Put together, they paint a damning whole picture.” [1]

The pieces of evidence relied upon by Matas and Kilgour in their investigation include: the reality of a large population of detainees from a dehumanized religious group, many of them unidentified; reports of blood testing among Falun Gong detainees and individual instances of adherents’ bodies being seen port-mortem with organs removed; transplant patients waiting as little as one week for an organ (in most countries, patients wait over a year); an exponential increase in organ transplant activity coinciding with the campaign against Falun Gong; and perhaps most chilling, transcripts of recorded phone calls in which Chinese doctors admit directly or indirectly that organ sources are unwitting Falun Gong practitioners (see below).

In an effort to gauge the scale of organ harvesting, the pair compared the execution rate as estimated by Amnesty International (executed prisoners are widely acknowledged as a key source of organs in China) with the reported number of transplants. They found a discrepancy of 41,500 cases of transplants with unexplained organ sources over a five-year period. They believe that the source of all, or most, of these organs were Falun Gong detainees. The pair was nominated for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize in connection with their work to investigate and publicize concerns over organ harvesting in China.

Nanning City Minzu Hospital in Guangxi Autonomous Region (22 May 2006):

M: “…Could you find organs from Falun Gong practitioners?”

Dr. Lu: “Let me tell you, we have no way to get (them). It’s rather difficult to get it now in Guangxi. If you cannot wait, I suggest you go to Guangzhou because it’s very easy for them to get the organs. They are able to look for (them) nation wide. As they are performing the liver transplant, they can get the kidney for you at the same time, so it’s very easy for them to do. Many places where supplies are short go to them for help…”

M: “Why is it easy for them to get?”

Lu: “Because they are an important institution. They contact the (judicial) system in the name of the whole university.”

M: “Then they use organs from Falun Gong practitioners?”

Lu: “Correct…”

M: “…what you used before (organs from Falun Gong practitioners), was it from detention centre(s) or prison(s)?”

Lu: “From prisons.”

M: “…and it was from healthy Falun Gong practitioners…?”

Lu: “Correct. We would choose the good ones because we assure the quality in our operation.”

M: “That means you choose the organs yourself.”

Lu: “Correct…”

M: “Usually, how old is the organ supplier?”

Lu: “Usually in their thirties.”

M: “… Then you will go to the prison to select yourself?”

Lu: “Correct. We must select it.”

M: “What if the chosen one doesn’t want to have blood drawn?”

Lu: “He will for sure let us do it.”

M: “How?”

Lu: “They will for sure find a way. What do you worry about? These kinds of things should not be of any concern to you. They have their procedures.”

M: “Does the person know that his organ will be removed?”

Lu: “No, he doesn’t.”

Mishan City Detention Centre, Heilongjiang province (8 June 2006)

M: Do you have Falun Gong [organ] suppliers? …

Mr. Li: We use to have, yes.

M:…what about now?

Mr. Li: … Yes…

M: Can we come to select, or you provide directly to us?

Mr. Li: We provide them to you.

M: What about the price?

Mr. Li: We discuss after you come…

M: How many [Falun Gong suppliers] under age 40 do you have?

Mr. Li: Quite a few…

M: Are they male or female?

Mr. Li: Male…

M: Now, for…the male Falun Gong [prisoners], how many of them do you have?

Mr. Li: Seven, eight, we have [at least] five, six now.

M: Are they from countryside or from the city?

Mr. Li: Countryside.”