September 16, 2006 Saturday

Why was I in Exeter's Guildhall Shopping Centre helping to man an information stall with four other Falun Gong practitioners?

Why is our group touring the cities of the South West this week? The reason is one of great solemnity.

Reports by eyewitnesses from within concentration camps in China have ignited independent investigations, one of which was conducted by David Matas, an international human rights lawyer, and David Kilgour, a former Secretary of State of Canada for the Asia Pacific region.

It came to the regrettable conclusion that allegations about organ harvesting are true. The report said: "We believe that there has been, and continues today, to be large-scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners.

"Their vital organs, including hearts, kidneys, livers and corneas, were virtually simultaneously seized for sale at high prices, sometimes to foreigners who normally face long waits for voluntary donations of such organs in their home countries."

Professor Stephen Wigmore, chairman of the ethics committee of the British Transplantation Society, referring to "really incontrovertible" evidence about the practice, condemned organ harvesting in China as an unacceptable human rights violation. He called on the United Nations and the World Health Organisation to investigate the abuse.

Falun Gong was banned in mainland China because it was too popular. In [1999], the ruling Chinese Communist regime found that Falun Gong was practised by 70 to 100 million people. Feeling threatened by such a large group that was not under its control, the communists banned Falun Gong. It is a
meditation practice from the Buddhist school, which teaches gentle exercises and improving the nature of your heart and mind through the principles of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance. Since 1999, the Chinese Communist Party has arrested, beaten and placed over 100,000 people in forced labour camps. Of them, 2,932 people have been tortured to death.

My friend Li Heping, who had travelled from London to be in Exeter, experienced the violence at first hand.

He told me: "Unconvinced that my spirit was completely broken, they started a whole new eight-day torture session. My face was brutally slapped. I was stripped of my coat and shoes and sat on a cold concrete bed with bare feet on a wet floor.

"I was not allowed to make any bodily movement. The police used the sleep deprivation method known as 'eagle training' on me.

"As soon as my eyes closed, there'd be loud shouting, hitting of a stainless steel mug right next to my ear and a violet light would be shone into my eyes.

"Whether it was night or day, the moment I lapsed into sleep, they woke me up. My mind became very weary.

"When I lost consciousness in total fatigue, the police injected psychotrophic drugs into me.

"When I came round, I felt weak and cold. I was observed through cameras. I was threatened through a small barred window.

"My pulse raced... my every sweat pore, my saliva and my urine reeked with a disgusting smell of chemicals.

"Tears streamed down my face as I heard the hoarse, agonised cries of someone else being tortured far away.

"There seemed to be no end to my agony."

On a warm September day, five friends believing in truthfulness, compassion and forbearance, gathered in Exeter to tell people about these atrocities.

Please tell others about this issue and help by signing our petition at http://petition.fofg.org.uk/organharvesting/