“Government is designed to serve people, organize a society so people can live freely. It institutes rule of law, and establishes order that protects the innocent and the right to believe what you want. That’s not what the communist government does. It has a different purpose, keeping itself in power to control over people, lives, and minds,” said Representative Poe (R-TX) at the July 12 rally.
Several U.S. congressmen expressed their intention of helping to stop organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese Communist regime.
“Yet as we mark over 60 years since the adoption of the Declaration of Human Rights, it is a travesty that practitioners have been persecuted and tortured, including horrible acts beyond comprehension. According to the most recent State Department’s human rights report, ‘overseas and domestic media and advocacy groups continued to report instances of organ harvesting, particularly from Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghur,’” said Representative Sam Farr (D-CA).
“I will continue to ask in congress to promote peace in persecuted communities and work for a more just world. To fight for human rights and positive change, I will use my thumbprint to support Falun Gong and urge colleagues to support them, and will do so with the White House and the president, urging them to support you as well.”
Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) mentioned that a congressional hearing on the persecution will soon be held.
“There is an enormous amount of respect, especially for those who have suffered so horrifically in China, who have been tortured, maltreated with impunity by the dictatorship that reigns for now in Beijing, because of the work you have done in exposing organ harvesting, the problem of torture, which is practiced with horrible consequences with practitioners, the U.S. government and congress and all aspects of our society stand with solidarity with those victims and with those seeking to liberate the Falun Gong practitioners inside China,” said Congressman Smith.
“I chair The Congressional-Executive Commission on China which is tasked with monitoring and raising and exposing human rights abuses in China. We will be holding, vey soon, a hearing focused exclusively on the Falun Gong and ongoing terrible mistreatment that Falun Gong practitioners have experienced.”
First Report
The Epoch Times broke the story of the atrocity of forced, live organ harvesting in April, 2006 with reports about a hospital in Sujiatun, a suburb of Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning Province, where the purged former Party heavyweight Bo Xilai was governor from 2000 to 2004.
The reports were initially based on the statements of two individuals from Sujiatun, who took the aliases of Annie and Peter.
Annie is the ex-wife of a neurosurgeon at Sujiatun who was in charge of removing corneas from living Falun Gong practitioners. Peter was a reporter who conducted research on Sujiatun before escaping to the United States.
Peter and Annie made their first public appearance at a rally in front of the U.S. Capitol in July 2006.
“I have used large amounts of manpower, material supplies, and financial resources, and have finally found this facility in Sujiatun, where many Falun Dafa practitioners were detained, and their corneas, internal organs, and bone marrow were harvested while they were alive, and then their bodies were cremated,” said Peter at the 2006 rally. “Even their hair is made into wigs, and their skin and body fat is sold. The remainder of their bodies is then cremated to destroy all evidence.”
In the years following Annie’s and Peter’s appearance, organ harvesting in China still did not gain international attention.
“When the reports about this first emerged, little action was taken. Now the U.S. Department of State has included these allegations in their human rights reports. This is another example of the failure to act. We are guilty of looking away and remaining silent while the Chinese Communist Party commits human rights violations,” said Suzanne Scholte, president of the Defense Forum Foundation, at the July 12 rally.
“The truth is that as long as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is in power, the Chinese people will continue to suffer and it will block the potential for China to emerge as a responsible world leader,” Scholte said.
A Time of Change
China is experiencing a time of change.
In February, the flight of Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu city triggered a crisis within the CCP that is still unfolding. Meanwhile, Chinese society steadily grows more restive, with hundreds of “mass incidents”—protests or riots involving large numbers of people—every day.
