Organ Harvesting – Shocking evidence of one the world’s worst hidden mass atrocities

China Tribunal releases details of China’s horrifying campaign of  forced organ harvesting, in 2020 Judgment

The following are a range of highlights of evidence from the 160-page Judgment attached. Also attached is a ‘Supplementary Document’ providing important notes on the points below including telephone call  transcripts and key witness testimonies. 

• Undercover telephone call evidence¹reveals that former President Jiang Zemin (1993-2003) issued  written orders to harvest organs from Falun Gong practitioners 

• Doctors from leading Chinese transplant hospitals admit, in undercover phone calls, that organs  harvested from Falun Gong detainees are available² 

• Chinese Government official who calls himself “the butcher,” compares live organ harvesting to “slaughtering pigs… after scooping the organs out, I would sell them” 

• Four methods of live organ harvesting exposed, including killing prisoners by removing organs, lethal  injection and “organ harvesting under the pretext of brain death” 

• Tribunal concludes with certainty that “acts of torture” have also been inflicted on the Uyghur population, of which “hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions” are imprisoned in China 

• Testimonies expose widespread accounts of rape and torture against innocent victims, including  graphic sexual violence and being “shocked” with electric rods. With one woman shocked until blind. 

• Waiting times for organs of only two weeks indicates organs could not have been sourced from legal  donation practices 

• Tribunal “convinced that official Chinese transplantation statistics have been falsified” to cover up  programme of forced organ harvesting 

• Tribunal states “Government’s failure to investigate the allegations… has enabled them to justify  doing little or nothing”, allowing “many people to die horribly and unnecessarily”  

• Tribunal advises “There is no evidence of the practice having been stopped and the Tribunal is  satisfied that it is continuing” 

¹ Phone call was analysed by forensic speech expert, Prof Peter French. See supplementary document.  ² All telephone calls submitted to the China Tribunal and included within the Judgment have been individually  validated by independent investigators to ensure credibility or origin and content.

MEDIA RELEASE 

• Tribunal concludes that “very many people have died indescribably hideous deaths for no reason,  that more may suffer in similar ways, and that all of us live on a planet where extreme wickedness  may be found” 

• Forced organ harvesting described as the “greatest possible breach of a person’s human rights” 

• The China Tribunal’s Judgment confirms that China’s campaign of forced organ harvesting  “constitutes crimes against humanity” 

• The full report concludes the world’s first ever independent legal analysis of all available evidence regarding forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience in China 

[London, 01 March 2020] The China Tribunal³ has today released its Judgment, declaring that China’s  campaign of forced organ harvesting against innocent victims is a “crime against humanity” constituting one  of the world’s “worst atrocities committed” of the century in modern times. 

The Judgment on forced organ harvesting contains over 160 pages with an additional 300 pages of witness  testimonies and submissions, and for the first time outlines evidence reviewed over the past 18 months,  presenting their findings and reasoning to the world. 

The China Tribunal’s Judgment released today discloses the details leading to its conclusion that China is guilty of a continuing state-run programme of forced organ harvesting from innocent prisoners of conscience.  The extensive document provides previously unseen evidence of China’s horrific campaign of forced organ  harvesting, described by the China Tribunal Chairman, Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, as the “greatest possible breach  of a person’s human rights.”  

The China Tribunal is an independent, international people’s tribunal with members from the US, UK,  Malaysia and Iran who have expertise in international human rights law, transplant surgery, international  relations, Chinese history and business. The historic release of its Judgment today will be the last official  action taken by the China Tribunal, which now calls for “individuals, bodies, and governments” to act “given  the conclusion that the tribunal has reached.” 

The Judgment Report of the China Tribunal is attached. 

Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, China Tribunal Chairman, said, “The Full Judgment sets out the China Tribunal’s  reasoning in detail. It confirms how all people or organisations interacting in any substantial way with the  PRC should recognise that they are interacting with a criminal state.” 

“Given the Tribunal’s conclusions, it is now the responsibility of all those who do interact with the PRC governments and international bodies in particular – to remember the duty every individual, and every  organ of society, owes to respect the entitlement of all on this planet, near or far, to the right to life. This  cannot be done by wilful ‘blindness’ or ‘deafness’, ‘pragmatic’ silence and inactivity. It requires action.  Now.” 

Susie Hughes, Executive Director and Co-Founder of the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in  China (ETAC): “It is no longer acceptable for Governments, medical bodies and leading human rights  

³Independent Tribunal into Forced Organ Harvesting from Prisoners of Conscience in China www.chinatribunal.com

MEDIA RELEASE 

organisations to say there is not enough evidence. The enormous task of assessing all available evidence has  now been completed and is available for all to see.” 

“The China Tribunal has provided an important bridge. The time for ignoring the issue has passed. These  crimes are not just against Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghurs, they are crimes against ALL of humanity.  The next step is for humanity to act.” 

Wendy Rogers, Chair of ETAC International Advisory Committee, Professor of Clinical Ethics at Macquarie  University: “Doctors involved in forced organ harvesting violate the most fundamental principles of medical  ethics. Patients who receive organs from victims of forced organ harvesting are complicit in this unspeakable crime. Following the China Tribunal Judgment it is no longer possible to turn a blind eye to  these horrors; we all have a responsibility to act.” 

See supplementary media release document, and China Tribunal Judgment attached. China’s Organ Transplant Industry 

China’s organ trade is estimated to have a market value of $1 billion per annum. China’s organ transplant  industry has been developed on a very large scale with significant investment into hospitals, medical personnel  and other infrastructure. In 2000, coinciding with the beginning of the persecution of Buddha School Falun  Gong, China’s organ transplantation industry exploded in activity. State-run hospitals and hundreds of  independent websites began advertising organs available for transplant including hearts, livers, kidneys and  corneas. The waiting time for transplants ranged from hours to days – an impossible timeframe if organs are  sourced ethically from volunteers dying of natural causes or trauma. These time frames indicate a pool of  prisoners who can be killed to order to provide organs. China claims that, from January 2015, all organs come  from volunteers but detailed analysis shows that this claim is not true.  

Chinese State of Persecution 

China has an estimated 1.5 million prisoners of conscience in detention at any one time. Detainees who have  been killed for their organs are primarily Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghur Muslims, but also include House  Church Christians and Tibetans. 

Scholars estimate that perhaps over a million Falun Gong practitioners have been in custody at any given time  in the country’s vast network of detention camps. In 2006, systematic reports of forced organ harvesting from  prisoners of conscience came to light, providing a grisly explanation for the source of organs underpinning the  dramatic nationwide expansion of China’s organ transplantation sector. 

Evidence is growing that demonstrates the current mass incarceration of Uyghurs in Xinjiang appears to be  providing a new pool of victims for forced organ harvesting. Witnesses to the Tribunal reported brutal  detention conditions in Xinjiang detention camps, along with the familiar pattern of blood tests, organ scans  and disappearance of prisoners who had been tested.  

International Response since the establishment of the China Tribunal  

• In the first official statement from a major U.S political party on China’s organ crimes, the US Republican  National Committee (RNC) unanimously passed a resolution condemning “China’s involuntary organ  harvesting as a major human rights violation” in August 2019.

MEDIA RELEASE 

• In September 2019, China’s forced organ harvesting crimes were announced at the United Nations Human  Rights Council (UNHRC) for the first time in the Council’s history. The historic moment saw Hamid Sabi,  Counsel to the China Tribunal, declare that it is now the “legal obligation” of United Nations (UN) member  states to address forced organ harvesting in China. A joint letter to the UN High Commissioner, UN  Secretary-General and UN Member States, signed by 18 international organisations is now calling for a UN  Commission of Inquiry into forced organ harvesting in China. (Joint letter available upon request) 

• In the UK, members of the House of Lords are pressing for the World Health Organisation (WHO) to look  closely at the China Tribunal’s findings. The WHO, who had previously advised the UK Foreign  Commonwealth Office that China’s transplant practices were ethical, has now acknowledged that their  advice on was in fact “based on the self-assessment made by the country that is a signatory, and in this case that is China.” https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2019-07-25/debates/341A8E55-95DE-4689- 

8023-E0D5DDCCC254/ChinaOrganHarvesting 

• In Australia, Senator Eric Abetz questioned the Department of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (DFAT)  on the China Tribunal’s findings. DFAT have responded that they are aware of the China Tribunal and are  awaiting this final report. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FFDqUEHqr8 

• 24 academic studies about transplanted organs by researchers in China were retracted in August 2019 due to concerns the work may have used organs from executed prisoners. 

https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-019-03749-0/index.html#wendy-rogers

• In Canada, a bill to prevent organ trafficking received unanimous support from both the House of  Commons and the Senate. A similar bill is currently being heard by the House of Lords in the UK.  

China Tribunal  

The China Tribunal, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice, QC (see bio below), has conducted the world’s first  independent legal analysis of forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience in China. The Tribunal  examined all available evidence in order to determine what criminal offences, if any, may have been  committed by individuals affiliated to state or state-approved bodies, organisations or officials in China that  may have engaged in forced organ harvesting. 

Joining Sir Geoffrey Nice QC were six Tribunal members from the US, UK, Malaysia and Iran; bringing  expertise in international human rights law, transplant surgery, international relations, Chinese history and business. https://chinatribunal.com/who-we-are/ 

For more information about the ‘Tribunal’s Approach to Evidence and Decision-making’ – please see P21 of  the Judgment. 

Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, China Tribunal Chair 

Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, knighted for his services to International Criminal Justice, is a world-renowned expert  in crimes of mass atrocity. He worked at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia –

MEDIA RELEASE 

the ICTY – where he prosecuted a number of cases relating to genocide, and in November 2001 undertook  the prosecution of Slobodan Milošević until the end of that trial in 2006. See biography here.  

Hamid Sabi, International Lawyer and Counsel to the China Tribunal 

Hamid Sabi is a London-based lawyer with an international practice in human rights, arbitration and litigation.  Mr Sabi is Counsel to the China Tribunal, and previously acted as Counsel and Rapporteur to the Iran Tribunal,  an independent people’s tribunal that investigated mass killings of political prisoners by the Islamic Republic  of Iran in the 1980s. 

What is forced organ harvesting? 

(From the China Tribunal Judgment, Section 160, p.51) Forced organ harvesting means, as in paragraph 2  above, killing a person without their consent in order that their organs may be removed and transplanted into  another person. Technically, it can also refer to the forced harvesting of one organ (for example, a single  kidney) or part of an organ (for example, part of a liver), where the ‘donor’ patient survives. However, there  has been no evidence of this, and the entire focus of the Tribunal has been on forced organ harvesting that  has been fatal.  

International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC) 

The China Tribunal was initiated by (but remains independent to) the International Coalition to End  Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC)⁴. ETAC is a human rights charity dedicated to bringing an end to forced  organ harvesting in China. ETAC felt compelled to establish the China Tribunal given the many reports, some  from very eminent bodies, that have investigated forced organ harvesting but that have not specifically  enquired as to whether China’s transplant practices have amounted to – or included – commission of  international criminal offences. Whilst ETAC initiated the Tribunal, there was a necessary and scrupulous  separation between ETAC and the Tribunal. ETAC was at no stage privy to the Tribunal’s work and  deliberation of evidence. Counsel to the Tribunal, Mr Hamid Sabi acted as the communication channel between ETAC and the Tribunal.  

For further information, and interview opportunities, please contact: 

Gordon Cole-Schmidt 

The Communication Group plc 

020 7630 1411 

chinatribunal@thecommunicationgroup.co.uk