China harvested livers, kidneys, corneas and even hearts from tens of thousands religious prisoners while they were still alive and the world is paying no attention, according to a new documentary.
Rumours of the live organ trade in China first surfaced in 2006, and have been supported by human rights lawyers, witnesses and even surgeons who admit having performed the operations.
But claims that supporters of the Falun Gong faith are having their organs sold to wealthy transplant tourists from all over the world are still not taken seriously.
The documentary, Hard to Believe, offers the first sustained examination into why the world is so willing to turn a blind eye to ‘one of the most catastrophic human rights violations in our time’.
China harvested livers, kidneys, corneas and even hearts from tens of thousands religious prisoners while they were still alive and the world is paying no attention, according to a new documentary.
Rumours of the live organ trade in China first surfaced in 2006, and have been supported by human rights lawyers, witnesses and even surgeons who admit having performed the operations.
But claims that supporters of the Falun Gong faith are having their organs sold to wealthy transplant tourists from all over the world are still not taken seriously.
The documentary, Hard to Believe, offers the first sustained examination into why the world is so willing to turn a blind eye to ‘one of the most catastrophic human rights violations in our time’.
The ban is still in practice in China today, and just last year the group was placed at the top of the regime’s list of ‘most active cults’.
The new documentary explores the research of investigative journalist and China enthusiast Ethan Gutmann, and a Canadian investigative team consisting of human rights lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize nominee David Matas and Canadian Secretary of State David Kilgour.
We acknowledge a terrible atrocity only after it’s over. Look at how long it took before the Holocaust was recognised. This is a pattern we see over and over again.
It includes harrowing detail offered by former Falun Gong prisoners and a surgeon who admitted that he had carved organs from living people with his own hands.
None of these credible professionals’ testimonies have been taken seriously enough to warrant an official investigation.
‘There’s a general tendency to not want to look atrocities in the face,’ Gutmann told MailOnline.
‘We acknowledge a terrible atrocity only after it’s over. Look at how long it took before the Holocaust was recognised.
‘This is a pattern we see over and over again.’