(Minghui.org) David Matas, Nobel peace prize nominee and renowned international human rights lawyer, spoke on ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) radio yesterday, June 29, 2015 in Adelaide, about the Chinese regime's killing of Falun Gong practitioners for their organs.
ABC Radio Host, Ian Henschke: “… Horrific and Almost Unbelievable”
According to Matas, “Originally the Chinese Communist Party encouraged it because it was helpful because of the exercises, and it cut down on the costs of the health system. But then it became very popular, and it’s spiritual. The Communist Party is atheist. The Party started to worry about its own ideological support and popularity when Falun Gong became so popular that there were more practitioners of Falun Gong in China than there were members of the Communist Party.”
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a set of peaceful meditative exercises and teachings based on Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
“But, why would that be so horrendous that you would then start locking people up and removing their organs?” Asked ABC Radio Host, Ian Henschke.
Matas said, “What happened initially when the repression of Falun Gong started, the Falun Gong practitioners had the same incomprehension you do. This is harmless, it's not political, it's not organized, it's a set of exercises, there must be some mistake. So there were huge protests everywhere. A lot of people were going to Beijing to protest in Tiananmen Square. These people were locked up in the hundreds of thousands. You're starting with a population of 70 million. They ended up being the largest population, by far, of prisoners, in the Chinese gulag, in the re-education labor camps. There is an estimate of one million plus of them.”
International Reaction
Israel has so far taken the strongest stand, along with Taiwan and Spain, in recent times, in criminalizing travel to China for organ transplantation. Henschke added, “The Israelis obviously understand what goes on in concentration camps. They have now decided that it's a horror to be involved in any shape or form with this trade.”
Matas highlighted that the Transplant Society, “an international forum for the world-wide advancement of organ transplantation,” as per their official site, denied admission to 35 Chinese transplant doctors to a recent conference, on the basis that there was complicity in transplant abuse. Matas further said that the Transplant Society “refused to attend a Chinese transplant conference in Hangzhou, China that year, also because of that complicity.”
Matas firmly stated that the primary source of organs is from Falun Gong practitioners. “...we're talking millions and millions of them… tens of millions,” commented Henschke.
“Even if you ended all transplant tourism, that wouldn’t end transplant abuse. There needs to be more transparency. China still will not tell you where their organs are coming from.” Matas stated further, “What's more, the death penalty in China is now centralized. Everything goes through Beijing. They know what the figures are. They should be able to release them.”
After his radio interview, David Matas spoke at the University of South Australia about the issue of organ harvesting on the evening of June 29.
Matas is scheduled to speak at Melbourne University on July 8, following a stop over in New Zealand.
Category: Organ Harvesting
