China Admits Selling Prisoners' Organs

[NASSIR]

China Admits Selling Prisoners' Organs

November 21, 2006 10:22 AM

 

ABC news

 

Anna Schecter Reports

 

 

For the first time, the Chinese government has admitted selling the organs of executed prisoners for profit, a gruesome business it had denied for years.

 

Speaking at a national conference of transplant surgeons in Guangzhou last week, Vice-Minister of Health Huang Jiefu admitted, "Apart from a small portion of traffic victims, most of the organs from cadavers are from executed prisoners," according to the China Daily, a state-run English-language newspaper published in Beijing.

 

Harry Wu, a former political prisoner in China and human rights activist, says that Huang's statement is an important admission.

 

"Ten years ago I talked about this, ABC and BBC reported, Congress held hearings about this, and China always denied it, saying 'No, no, no, never,'" said Wu. "And this time, they said 'Yes.'"

 

Wu assisted ABC News' 1997 Primetime investigation where the story, "Blood Money: Black Market for Kidneys from Chinese Prisoners," first broke.

 

According to the published account, the health vice-minister complained that foreigners were getting the vast majority of the organs because they could better afford to pay than Chinese citizens. The cost of a prisoner's kidney has been estimated by human rights groups at about $90,000.

 

Wu says that poor Chinese are selling their organs on the black market, even though it is now illegal in China to sell organs for profit.

 

A Ministry of Health official in Beijing declined to comment, saying that ABC News needed to submit a written application for an interview.

 

Sophie Richardson, an Asia expert for Human Rights Watch, says China still has a long way to go to improve its human rights standards. "This is the beginning of an effort to look like it's responding to concerns about some pretty grotesque behavior."

 

The Chinese government established a special committee to crack down on the organ black market earlier this year.

 

[Som@li]

very bad..

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

disgusting and horrible. I was given a flyer about how china does this to living member of the falun gong and could not believe it. I guees every generation must have its international boogyman be german, soviet or japanese. Difference and sad truth is that China is using its economic weight to not only supress concerns about its human rights record but to keep keep afloat dictators and flagrant abusers of human rights and it just might work.

[Captain Xalane]

In the case of an executed criminal,say with crime charges like murder,i don't see why selling their organs should be against human rights.The criminal is dead,and the living folks need the organs.That ain't against human rights.

[NASSIR]

Xalane, how many prisoners China executes each year? That # is unbelievable with many of them wrongly executed ,eg. many protestors from the Muslim province whose struggle for their freedom to practice their religion and local affairs began under the rule of Mao Zedong have been subjected to military oppression, a directive from the government of Shanghai to persecute indiscrimately.

[Captain Xalane]

Caamir,wrong or illegal executions is another issue.My previous post deals solely with actual criminals,such as the murderers.

[NASSIR]

Even to sell criminals' renal organs for profit is ethically and legally wrong.

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

guiulty or not, this something that should not be done without the consent of people. l, are also for the turture of prisoners. fuethermore, we all know that a large amount of prisoner in china are innocent conscience objectors to brutal regime of china. also, there are reportrs that this is being done with live prisoners to insure the organs are "fresh". God forbed we should start to consider human body part like car parts.