Beginning in March 2006, The Epoch Times published many articles to expose the forced organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners in China. The international community has expressed deep concern, but because the evidence is so horrific and on such a large scale, some question the authenticity of such allegations.
Harry Wu, director of the Laogai Research Foundation, is one such person who has questioned the reports. Recently, Epoch Times interviewed Zhang Jian, the chairman of the China Democratic Front (France). Zhang is also the France representative of the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition. Zhang addressed Harry Wu’s skepticism about the authenticity of the organ harvesting.
The following is a summary of the recording of Zhang’s interview:
Harry Wu’s Contradictions
Some people had questions like, “Were there really that many people? Was it possible?” I had doubts myself at first. But when I saw an article written about World War II when the Jewish people were persecuted and slaughtered, nearly no one outside the camp knew. When Jan Karski disclosed the message of Nazis’ slaughtering of the Jews, the U.S. Supreme Court judge Felix Frankfurter’s response to a Poland diplomat was, “Mr. Ambassador, I did not say this young man is lying. I said I am unable to believe him. There is a difference.” The Chinese communist regime has already massacred so many people and I believe the organ harvesting from living bodies is happening.
The reason Harry Wu established the Laogai Research Foundation was to reveal how human rights have been abused and trampled in the process of the labor reform in China. He has established to the international community that gross human rights atrocities are committed in China.
He published a story with photos of the arrest and execution of a few arsonists in 1989.
He also exposed the inhumane practice of removing the skin from a living body for the treatment of burns and skin grafts. What this story uncovered was this grisly practice involving many people, from prisons to hospital staff to executioners, to complete the inhumane skin transplants. One of the doctors from the hospital went to the U.S. and applied for political asylum. He publicly testified about this, and Wu made a good report to testify in the U.S. Congress. This is something everyone is familiar with.
After The Epoch Times reported the organ harvesting in Sujiatun concentration camp, Wu also accepted interviews and he made a series of statements about the CCP’s organ transplants, including how prisons abuse prisoners. Wu did not have any questions at that time. But after a short time, he suddenly retracted what he said. He then submitted a private report to the U.S. State Department, with the purpose of denying the existence of any large scale organ harvesting.
He had worked so hard to get just a few cases exposed, and The Epoch Times uncovered thousands of cases at one time. He thought that it was impossible to perform so many transplants at once, therefore it must be a lie. He also made his thoughts known to a few human rights organizations in Europe and because he has been involved in human rights issues in China in the past, his opinions were influential.
We have seen many reports recently on the organ harvesting crimes, including the independent investigative report published by two Canadian human rights attorneys. [ Editor’s Note: One of these men, David Matas, is a noted Canadian human rights attorney, the other, David Kilgour, is a former Canadian MP. ]
The data published by the regime has revealed 60,000 organ transplant operations were performed in the past five years, and the majority of the transplants have no proof of the source of the donors. Only a small number of organs were from relatives or executed prisoners, so where did the rest of the organs come from?
Forced organ harvesting definitely exists and it needs to be investigated and this must happen on a large scale, not only at Sujiatun but many other prisons. Mr. Wu admitted the existence of the organ harvesting before, but suddenly said later that this had never occurred. Based on how he contradicted himself, it is evident that he lied.
Harry Wu Did This to Retain His Reputation
Harry Wu went to mainland China in 1995, wanting to investigate Chinese prisons. He was arrested and sentenced. But surprisingly he was released in a short time. Was he truly a renowned resistance figure? We have seen many dissident figures imprisoned for very long periods of time, but he was released in a very short time. Why could this happen? He signed the communist regime’s repentance letter and later on after returning to the U.S., he changed his mind back to exposing the crimes of the CCP. We know this because the Chinese communist regime published his repentance letter in China.
Harry Wu betrayed his conscience and the conscience of the Chinese people by surrendering a letter of repentance to the CCP. Why should anyone believe what he has said? Is it worthy for anyone to consult him? Rationally, would anyone think what he is doing today is for the Chinese people’s freedom and basic democratic rights? Sadly for China and Harry Wu, the answer to that question is no; it is all for himself. Concern for his reputation and livelihood was the reason why he supported the claims at first, then denied their existence later.
A good friend of ours, Han Shaohua, was unable to go back to China after his father passed away because he would not sign a CCP repentance letter. If he had signed the repentance letter and admitted “guilt” for supporting freedoms for the Chinese people, he would have been able to go back and resume his former life or attain an even better position in life. He did not do that because it would have been an act against his good conscience and deny a future of freedom for all Chinese people.
What Harry Wu did was shameful and he is not worthy of any respect in the field of human rights in China. What he continues to do today cannot represent the Chinese democratic movement, nor represent all righteous people with conscience who honestly and bravely will not back down from the communist regime’s repression and violence. I want to tell Harry Wu that what he did was not seeking the truth of the facts, but for his own personal gain. His dishonesty could only help the CCP murder more Falun Gong practitioners. I hope he can change.
