(Minghui.org) As more pieces of evidence of China's systematic forced organ harvesting emerge and more books on this subject are published, it is worthwhile to review the groundbreaking book published in October 2009: Bloody Harvest: Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China.
In this book, David Matas and David Kilgour published the results of their independent investigations and confirmed the systematic forced harvesting of organs from Falun Gong practitioners. Mr. Matas, a renowned international human rights lawyer, and Mr. Kilgour, former diplomat and crown prosecutor of Canada, had been investigating the matter since March 2006, when news of organ harvesting was first reported.
One of the accounts in the book is from “Lanny.” In July 2008 Mr. Matas interviewed Lanny (an alias), who was once detained in a Chinese prison.
Lanny is not a Falun Gong practitioner. He was moved around to 17 cells during his time in prison from March 2005 to the beginning of 2007. He shared a cell with death row prisoners over 10 times.
He witnessed how blood samples were drawn before the executions and how, on the day of execution, the prisoner was taken away by people in white doctors' gowns in white ambulances. The warden told him, "The white cars are for harvesting organs."
The prisoners also told Lanny that at least two instances of harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners occurred in each cell during 2002 and 2003.
Lanny was moved to cell No. 311 in the Wuxi No. 1 Prison in Jiangsu Province, near Shanghai. The guard told him to sign a document, stating that another prisoner, Chen Qidong (陈启东), died of illness.
Chen died four days before Lanny was transferred to the cell. He had never seen Chen and declined to sign the document. All the others in the cell did sign it, and the guard gave the statement to Chen's family.
The head prisoner in cell No. 311 and several other cellmates told Lanny that Chen was a Falun Gong practitioner. He refused to give up his belief and kept doing the meditation, so the guards often beat and tortured him.
Chen went on a hunger strike to protest the abuses. The guards force-fed him with hot congee and damaged his digestive system. Chen developed a high fever. Several days before Chen was taken away, people in white gowns (the uniform for doctors in China) took a sample of his blood.
Four people in white gowns and gloves took Chen away. Chen never returned. That same day, a prisoner saw Chen in a room with a syringe in his neck. The prisoners learned that the syringes contained an anesthetic to keep a person's organs functioning until the organs were harvested. Others saw through the window that an ambulance was waiting outside.
The head prisoner told Lanny that Chen's organs were harvested. Lanny heard about other such cases, but Chen's case was the most detailed.
The experience of Falun Gong practitioner Yu Xinhui (于新会) confirmed Lanny's descriptions. In his interview with journalist Ethan Gutmann, Mr. Yu said that the prison doctor came from the same hometown as he did when he was detained in Sihui Prison in Guangdong Province.
Mr. Yu said, “The doctor told me that Falun Gong practitioners have healthy bodies. The organs are of course good. So what do you think? Are they going to pick you guys [Falun Gong practitioners] or the prisoners? Those prisoners may be addicted to drugs or alcohol and have many other unhealthy habits. Your guys' organs are the best.”
Mr. Yu was detained for six years in prison. He said that it was common knowledge among the prisoners that whenever an organ was needed, one of them would be taken away. Sometimes the guards or even other inmates threatened him, “If you don't behave, we will kill you and then sell your organs.”
Many prisoners knew that a “list” existed. Those on the list were taken away and never returned. This happened once a year.
Several big vans would arrive and park outside the prison. Officers would hold a list in their hands and call the names on the list to verify their identity. Those who were identified had to follow them with just their shoes and jacket. No other personal items were allowed. The officers would then move to the next room. This usually happened around midnight. Those people never returned.
Mr. David Matas said that once a Falun Gong practitioner entered the prison, he was placed in the pipeline to have his organs harvested.