August 9, 2006 Wednesday
Thousands of followers of China's outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement are being executed in order to provide organs for surgical transplant, a group staging a rally in Charlottetown Tuesday charged.
Three members of the Global Mission to rescue Persecuted Falun Gong Practitioners, strung a banner in front of city hall in order to call attention to new allegations that the years-old state harassment of Falun Gong was devolving into rampant executions.
Can Sun, Yvonne Zhao and Yan Liu made the trip from Toronto to call on Canadians to become involved in the fight to protect their fellow believers.
"In Ontario when someone is on the waiting list for a liver transplant the average time is something like 3.7 years," said Sun.
"In China the wait time for a transplant of a liver once someone has been approved could be around a week."
Sun said the prosecution and jailing of Falun Gong practitioners has been well-documented over the past several years.
He said it is just becoming clear now that the disappearance of Falun Going members may be tied into the recent increase in the number of organ transplants taking place in China.
He said a recent report from former MP David Kilgour and human rights lawyer David Matas concluded that there have been verifiable cases of "organ seizures" among the Falun Gong.
The Tuesday rally drew a small crowd of onlookers, including Charlottetown MP Shawn Murphy and Malpeque MP Wayne Easter.
Murphy said the treatment of Falun Gong has been an ongoing topic of discussion in Ottawa, and the allegation that the abuse has degenerated into executions and organ piracy is especially worrisome.
"I know it's going to be coming up in the legislature this fall," he said.
"I'll be pressing for a thorough investigation into these allegations, preferably something under the care of the United Nations."
Easter said he thinks the world community can't ignore charges as serious as those raised by people like Sun, Liu and Zhao.
"The kind of abuse that is being talked about here is about as evil as something could possibly be," he said.