Illegal organ transplants are becoming more widespread in China, says Canadian human rights lawyer David Matas. Mr. Matas says a growing number of organs are being harvested from prisoners of conscience.

The Nobel Peace Prize nominee touched down in Melbourne, Australia this past week to speak at the 63rd annual UN conference on Advanced Global Health.

Matas travels the globe drawing attention to the contents of a book he co-authored called Bloody Harvest. Bloody Harvest details allegations that the Chinese communist regime is harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience, followers of the persecuted spiritual practice Falun Gong.

Matas believes forced organ harvesting in China is not only continuing, but increasing.

Voluntary organ donations are practically unheard of in China, and according to the World Health Organization, the vast majority of transplant organs come from executed prisoners.

But Matas says recent death penalty statistics show there are more organ transplants happening than there are official sources of organs.

[David Matas, Co-author, Bloody Harvest]:
"There was a big dip in the death penalty; the death penalty went down by about half. This is according to Amnesty International."

This means, Matas concludes, that organs are being taken from another, undocumented source. He believes it’s Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned for their beliefs.

[David Matas, Co-author, Bloody Harvest]:
"What we've got is traditional transplant volumes, lower sourcing from what the Chinese say is their almost exclusive source, so that means more sourcing from somewhere else, and that somewhere else, David Kilgour and I say is Falun Gong."

Since the release of his original report in 2006, David Matas and co-author David Kilgour have travelled to dozens of countries to speak about the topic. In many places, Matas says, the Chinese consulates have tried to cause him problems.

[...]

Kathryn Shakespear, NTD News, Melbourne, Australia.