Tour for China's illegal organ harvesting trade

AWARENESS: Auckland Falun Dafa practitioners peacefully protest in The Square. PHOTO: KARLA KARAITIANA

Physically abused, tortured and awaiting death, Xiaojun Chen looks down at his feet as he sadly recalls what he and millions of others have endured in state-run prisons throughout China.

Mr Chen, a member of the Auckland Falun Dafa Association, visited Palmerston North last week as part of the SOS tour in an effort to raise awareness of state-sanctioned organ harvesting of Falun Dafa practitioners in China.

Sentenced to seven years' imprisonment by the Chinese Communist Party in 2001 for practicing Falun Dafa, Mr Chen says that what he witnessed while incarcerated was "far beyond every human being's imagination".

Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a traditional practice of self cultivation that was introduced in 1992 and grew rapidly. By 1999 it had grown to an estimated 70 million practitioners, exceeding the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) numbers and becoming a threat to them.

The party outlawed the practice and began prosecuting practitioners, using media propaganda to turn the public against Falun Dafa.

Despite the lack of a functional donation system and religious beliefs limiting volunteer donors, China had an abundance of donor organs which led to questions about where they were being sourced from.

Allegations claim Falun Dafa practitioners in prison are tissue typed and then killed once a matching recipient is found for their organs. For patients that can afford them, the kidneys, livers and hearts are sold on demand.

"Besides the endless inhumane torture, I was taken to do blood tests on three occasions," Mr Chen said, adding that full medical checkups were reserved for those Falun Dafa practitioners in prison.

Mr Chen references a place the prison guards called the 'transferring cell'. He says this was secretly called 'the enforced disappearance' by inmates and this was widely accepted to be a cover for the organ harvesting.

"It was claimed that the prisoners were transferred to some remote regions to serve their years," Mr Chen said. "However, everyone knew that they would not come back at all.

"Usually the fully armed police would enter the cell in the middle of the night and take away anyone they wanted with them."

It is claimed that thousands of Falun Dafa practitioners have been killed for their organs, although exact numbers are not able to be determined.

Tour co-ordinator Daisy Lee says the aim of the tour is to convince people this crime is happening and to appeal to the New Zealand Government to help.

"Both the European parliament and United States House of Representatives have recently passed resolutions condemning the practice. It is my hope that all world leaders will put pressure on the Chinese Government to stop this terrible crime against humanity."