Beijing is harvesting organs from Falun Gong members who died ‘hideous deaths’, expert China Tribunal panel finds
- Independent seven-member China Tribunal was set up to look into whether crimes had been committed as a result of China’s transplant practices
- Beijing has repeatedly denied such accusations and said it stopped using organs from executed prisoners in 2015
China is murdering members of the Falun Gong spiritual group and harvesting their organs for transplant, a panel of lawyers and experts said in London on Monday as they invited further investigations into a potential genocide.
Members said they had heard clear evidence that forced organ harvesting had taken place over at least 20 years in a final judgment from the China Tribunal, an independent panel set up by a campaign group to examine the issue.
Beijing has repeatedly denied accusations by human rights researchers and scholars that it forcibly removes organs from prisoners of conscience and said that it stopped using organs from executed prisoners in 2015.
But the panel said it was “satisfied” that the practice was still taking place, with imprisoned Falun Gong members “probably the principal source” of organs for forced harvesting.
Falun Gong is a spiritual group based around meditation that China banned 20 years ago after 10,000 members appeared at the central leadership compound in Beijing in silent protest. Thousands of members have since been jailed.
