曾錚的世界

Taken from a bus on June 25, 2018年6月25日攝於公共汽車上。

Taken from a bus on June 25, 2018年6月25日攝於公共汽車上。

Taken from a bus on June 25, 2018年6月25日攝於公共汽車上。

The (normal) relationship between mother and daughter 母与女
1996年摄于北京 — in Beijing, China, in 1996.

by Daily Express

Jennifer Zeng is one of thousands arrested and sent to labour camps for practising Buddhism (Jennifer’s note: Actually we were sent there for practicing Falun Gong), the tribunal heard.

Imprisoned for a year 15 miles from Tiananmen Square, she was tortured and forced to write essays renouncing her beliefs.

Jennifer, 52, said, “They deprived us of the very essence of being a human being-the right to our own thoughts and feelings and free will.

“They tortured us, they starved us and the developed a very simple method which was sleep deprivation.

“I heard there was a woman who didn’t sleep for 15 days until she collapsed.”

Jennifer and inmates were repeatedly given medical checks, including blood tests and X-rays, and she now believes she had a narrow escape from execution when she fled to the US.

She said:”Even though I had suffered so much cruelty, I couldn’t believe it.

“when I heard more detailed reports and realized it was true, I realized what a narrow escape I had. After the Second World War, when people heard what happened in the concentration camps, they said ‘never again’.

“But it’s happening again on such an unprecedented scale.”

Daily Express’s report about Jennifer

Victims include imprisoned followers of Falun Gong movement, China Tribunal says

An independent tribunal sitting in London has concluded that the killing of detainees in China for organ transplants is continuing, and victims include imprisoned followers of the Falun Gong movement.

The China Tribunal, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, who was a prosecutor at the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, said in a unanimous determination at the end of its hearings it was “certain that Falun Gong as a source – probably the principal source – of organs for forced organ harvesting”.

“The conclusion shows that very many people have died indescribably hideous deaths for no reason, that more may suffer in similar ways and that all of us live on a planet where extreme wickedness may be found in the power of those, for the time being, running a country with one of the oldest civilisations known to modern man.”

He added: “There is no evidence of the practice having been stopped and the tribunal is satisfied that it is continuing.”

The tribunal has been taking evidence from medical experts, human rights investigators and others.

Call for retraction of 400 scientific papers amid fears organs came from Chinese prisoners

Read more

Among those killed, it has been alleged, are members of religious minorities such as Falun Gong. Persecution of the group began in 1999 after it had attracted tens of millions of followers and came to be seen as a threat to the communist party.

There is less evidence about the treatment of Tibetans, Uighur Muslims and some Christian sects.

China announced in 2014 that it would stop removing organs for transplantation from executed prisoners and has dismissed the claims as politically-motivated and untrue.

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The tribunal was initiated by the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (Etac) and its members, all of whom worked without payment, included medical experts.

Waiting times for transplantation offered by hospitals in China were extraordinarily low, the tribunal noted, often only a couple of weeks.

Investigators calling hospitals in China inquiring about transplants for patients, the tribunal said, have in the past been told that the source of some organs were from Falun Gong followers.

Both former Falun Gong and Uighur inmates gave testimony of undergoing repeated medical testing in Chinese jails.

Jennifer Zeng, a Falun Gong activist who was imprisoned for a year in a female labour camp, gave evidence to the China Tribunal about what she said were repeated medical check-ups and blood tests to which inmates were subjected.

She told the Guardian: “On the day we were transferred to the labour camp, we were taken to a medical facility where we underwent physical check-ups. We were interrogated about what diseases we had and I told them I had hepatitis.

“The second time, after about a month in the camp, everyone was handcuffed and put in a van and taken to a huge hospital. That was for a more thorough physical check-up. We were given X-rays. On the third occasion in the camp, they were drawing blood from us. We were all told to line up in the corridor and the test were given.”

Zeng, who fled China in 2001, did not see any direct evidence of forced organ removal but since reading other accounts, she has questioned whether the tests were part of a medical selection process.

In her statement to the tribunal, she said: “Inmates of the labour camp were not allowed to exchange contact details, so there was no way to trace each other after we were released. When anyone disappeared from the camp, I would assume that she was released and had gone home.

“But in reality that cannot be confirmed, as I had no way to trace others after my release and I now fear they might have been taken to a hospital and had their organs removed without consent and thus killed in the process.”

As many as 90,000 transplant operations a year are being carried out in China, the tribunal estimated, a far higher figure than that given by official government sources.

There have been calls for the UK parliament to ban patients from travelling to China for transplant surgery. More than 40 MPs from all parties have backed the motion. Israel, Italy, Spain and Taiwan already enforce such restrictions.

China insists it adheres to international medical standards that require organ donations to be made by consent and without any financial charges. It declined to participate in the tribunal.

Commenting on the claims earlier this year, the Chinese embassy told the Guardian: “The Chinese government always follows the World Health Organization’s guiding principles on human organ transplant, and has strengthened its management on organ transplant in recent years. On 21 March 2007, the Chinese state council enacted the regulation on human organ transplant, providing that human organ donation must be done voluntarily and gratis. We hope that the British people will not be misled by rumours.”

The tribunal heard reports of extraction of kidneys from executed prisoners from as far back as the 1970s. Most of the evidence, however, came from 2000 onwards.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/17/china-is-harvesting-organs-from-detainees-uk-tribunal-concludes

Waiting times for transplantation offered by hospitals in China are extraordinarily low. Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

The tribunal alleged that hospitals could request organs to be extracted “on demand” from donors without their consent.

By Sanya Burgess, news reporter 

Tuesday 18 June 2019 06:35, UK

The organs of prisoners are being illegally harvested and traded in China, an international tribunal has claimed.

Beijing had pledged to stop using executed inmates as a source of organ transplants in 2015 – but the tribunal has suggested there was no evidence this practice has stopped, and said it is “satisfied that it is continuing”.

It added that followers of Falun Gong, a religious spiritual practice, were “certainly” among those used as a source for “forced organ harvesting” in recent decades – and there was a “risk” that Uighur Muslims have suffered similar treatment.

The tribunal alleged that hospitals could request organs to be extracted “on demand” from donors without their consent.

Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, who led the prosecution of Serbian war criminal Slobodan Milosevic at the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, served as the China tribunal’s chairman.

Sir Geoffrey Nice QC served as the China tribunal’s chairman

Its report stopped short of labelling China’s actions a genocide – noting some prisoners had been released – but claimed it was “beyond reasonable doubt” the country was guilty of crimes against humanity.

Beijing has repeatedly denied allegations of forced organ harvesting.

Witnesses giving evidence to the tribunal described brutal detention conditions in Xinjiang detention camps. They told of years of imprisonment without trial and alleged they were forced to undergo blood tests and organ scans – and claimed some inmates had disappeared after being tested.

Jennifer Zeng, 52, was arrested for following Falun Gong. She said she was held against her will, physically and mentally tortured, and kept in cramped conditions at a labour camp in 2000.

Jennifer Zeng was arrested for following Falun Gong

During her imprisonment, her blood was tested and her organs were scanned. She was freed from the camp after pretending to reform in 2001, and came across a news story explaining what those tests had been for.

Ms Zeng, who now lives in America, told Sky News: “Only at that stage, I realised what a narrow escape I had. If I had not told the doctor I have had hepatitis C, I could have become a victim as well.”

Many of the prisoners who allegedly had their organs harvested were executed beforehand, but the tribunal was told stories of doctors removing organs while a patient was still alive.

Dr Enver Tohti, a former surgeon from Xinjiang, admitted that he had removed organs from a living prisoner during the oppression of Falun Gong.

In 1995, aged 32, the surgeon claimed he was instructed to enter a field and operate on a man who had been shot in the chest.

Falun Gong members perform in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris in a protest against organ harvesting

Dr Tohti told Sky News: “I became like a robot to carry out the duty I was programmed for. When I cut through, the man tried to resist but he was too weak to resist my insertion [of the scalpel]. When my scalpel cut through his skin I could see bleeding. That indicates the heart is still pumping blood, so he was still alive. I just carried on doing my job.”

The man’s liver and kidneys, which took just half an hour to remove, were placed in a box. Dr Tohti claimed he was told by the official in charge: “Remember, nothing happened today.”

The Chinese transplant trade is estimated to be a $1bn (£800m) industry, with a liver being valued at $160,000 (£130,000).

In 2016, the Bloody Harvest report estimated that 60,000 to 100,000 organs are transplanted each year in Chinese hospitals.

Up to 300 supporters of the practice of Falun Dafa march against the importing of human organs from China to Austria

Suspicions over the source of organs were raised in 2000, when there was an increase in transplants taking place with unusually short waiting times.

Around this time, persecution of the 70 million Falun Gong followers in the country began as China grew to perceive the group as subversive and a potential threat.

Although numbers are hard to verify, it is reported there are about 1.5 million prisoners of conscience in China. They are not only those who follow Falun Gong, but also include Uighur Muslims, Christians and Tibetan Buddhists.

Ethan Gutmann, an investigative writer who has spent years scrutinising China’s camps, said: “What has happened here is a true crime against humanity. Falun Gong was round one. The Uighurs is round two, and sped up.”

In 2018, the UN cited reports that one milliion Uighurs were in different camps and centres in the country. China responded that they “enjoy equal freedom and rights”.

Susie Hughes, co-founder of the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC), said: “It is no longer a question of whether organ harvesting in China is happening, that dialogue is well and truly over. We need an urgent response to save these people’s lives.”

Ethan Gutmann said the organ harvesting in China ‘is a true crime against humanity’

The tribunal was formed by ETAC, with its legal counsel saying they have worked pro bono to “preserve their independence”.

There is currently no law in the UK that prevents British patients travelling to China for transplant surgery.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “Of course any claims of organ harvesting are disturbing. We have noted this report and will read it carefully.

“The UK government is very concerned about human rights in China, and ministers raise these concerns regularly with their Chinese counterparts.”

A statement from the Chinese Embassy said: “The Chinese government always follows the World Health Organization’s guiding principles on human organ transplant, and has strengthened its management on organ transplant in recent years.”

During a news conference last year, Huang Jiefu, head of the China National Organ Donation and Transplantation Committee and chairman of the China Organ Transplantation Development Foundation, refuted allegations of living organ collecting in the country.

“China’s model of organ donation and transplantation features strong government support for the legal, administrative and health sectors, and progress of the capacity building of organ transplantation clinical service and technical development,” he said.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/organs-of-prisoners-illegally-harvested-in-china-tribunal-claims-11743480

Falun Gong participate in street theatre in a protest over the Chinese government harvesting body organs

Falun Gong member Jennifer Zeng says she was physically and mentally tortured while kept against her will in China.

Tuesday 18 June 2019 06:37, UK

Jennifer Zeng, 52, says she was arrested four times in China for following Falun Gong, a Chinese religious spiritual practice which the state has attempted to eradicate over the last 20 years.

She was held against her will, physically and mentally tortured, and kept in cramped conditions when she was thrown into a labour camp in 2000. 

During her imprisonment, her blood was tested and her organs were scanned but she believes one small comment saved her from the scalpel. She now lives in America after leaving the camp in 2001. 

As an international tribunal claims that the organs of prisoners are being illegally harvested and traded in China, here is Jennifer’s version of events.

Going into the camp was like stepping into hell.

It was what we read about at school about Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War. I thought it would never happen again but now it was happening to me.

The first order we got was to squat and immediately I heard the cracking sound of the electric batons ready to strike us. That first day we were made to squat under the scorching, baking sun for more than 15 hours. Many elderly women fainted and were shocked with the batons to be woken up.

I was in a cell with four bunk beds and there were initially eight of us there. This cell was later used to detain 20 people. You could not walk on the floor as it was covered in people. I believe the centre had been built especially to hold Falun Gong practitioners.

In the dispatch centre they wanted to destroy our minds. Most of the day was spent making us recite regulations designed to dehumanise us. It was mental torture and almost made me feel like I was raped mentally, again and again.

Falun Gong members have protested around the world against the harvesting of organs

In a way I was lucky. I was one of the first ones sent to the camp so got a good prisoner uniform. Others had to wear a thicker uniform for colder weather. It was so heavy in the burning heat that many women had no choice but to strip and be naked in the cells.

Here we worked as slaves hand-knitting jumpers. We were woken up at 5.30am and worked until midnight. Sometimes, when an extra shipment needed to go on the plane to Europe or the US, we would work through the night.

Another part of the torture was the sleep deprivation. Those who did not give in and reform were forced to stand against the wall. You could hear the sound of people as they fell asleep standing up. You could just hear “Dong! Dong! Dong!” as their heads hit the wall.

I saw one woman go mad from the sleep deprivation and mind games. The guards kept on at her and she snapped. I saw a very stupid look in her eyes…She laughed in such a terrifying way and I knew from that moment that she was mad. Jennifer Zeng

After a few months, they decided if you didn’t reform, you were not allowed any sleep. I saw one woman go mad from the sleep deprivation and mind games. The guards kept on at her and she snapped. Suddenly I saw a very stupid look in her eyes and then she started laughing so loudly. She said to them: “I finally understand, why didn’t you tell me earlier?” She laughed in such a terrifying way and I knew from that moment that she was mad.

There were so many times I was on the verge of losing my sanity. I was so terrified of becoming like her, and that was even more terrible than the electric batons and torture.

I was so focused on my survival, I had no idea I was being prepared to have my organs harvested.

First I was taken to a medical facility on the way to the camp. They tested our eyes, our nose and then had us lie down on the bed. They touched our organs, listened to our heartbeats, everything. The doctor then asked us about our medical history and I explained I had been infected with hepatitis C after a blood transfusion during the birth of my daughter but was cured after I took up Falun Gong.

I had no idea that throwaway sentence potentially saved me. I had no sense of the reason behind his questions.

Falun Gong is a Chinese religious spiritual practice also seen in other countries such as Vietnam (pictured)

A month after we were transferred to a labour camp, a bus arrived with its windows covered in thick black curtains. We were handcuffed and pushed inside, with four people to two seats, with two people having to squat. I was forced to squat and made to stare at my feet. We were driven and we didn’t know where. It was so hot and we were sweating so badly until all our clothes were wet.

Finally, we arrived and it was a normal hospital with ordinary people walking around. We were given a more thorough physical exam but also an X-ray in this dark room. When I recall that experience on the bus and going in this dark room, I think of the Jews taken to the gas chambers. It was so terrifying.

Another month passed and suddenly several of us were taken to a small room, a kind of clinic facility of the camp. This time they just took my blood. It was more than a normal amount. We were never told any results or shown anything.

Ms Zeng said going into the labour camp was “like stepping into hell”. Pic: Benny Zhang

Years later, after my escape, I came across a news article about the organ harvesting. Despite everything I had been through, I still couldn’t believe this was true. It was too cruel.

It was only as more details emerged that I accepted it. I started crying. I knew I couldn’t deny the facts anymore; this was true. And this is happening.

Only at that stage, I realised what a narrow escape I had. If I had not told the doctor I had had hepatitis C, I could have become a victim as well.

Luckily, I managed to escape by pretending to reform but it was not as simple as signing a document saying I turned my back on Falun Gong. I was forced to write essays about how evil the practice is and to read them to my fellow practitioners. Even then, this wasn’t enough. I was made to torture my jail mates. So many times I wondered if it was the right decision – but while I was in the prison I had realised I needed to find a way to tell the world about what was happening to my people.

Image:People in Vienna last year protesting against the importing of human organs from China

Writing a book to tell our story became my mission. I was constantly watched and I worried that I might say something in my sleep to give my plan away. Certain death awaited me if they discovered my intentions. As I forced myself to do all these things I didn’t want to do, I felt like I was being killed inside. I felt my soul, my free will, my thoughts being taken away.

But I managed it. I got out. I wrote my book. And now through the tribunal, hopefully the world will know what happened to my people.

People in Vienna last year protesting against the importing of human organs from China

:: Jennifer Zeng is the author of Witnessing History: One Chinese Woman’s Fight for Freedom and Falun Gong. She told her story to Sanya Burgess.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/a-throwaway-comment-saved-me-from-having-my-organs-harvested-11743126

Jennifer Zeng was arrested four times for following Falun Gong. Pic: Benny Zhang

如太陽從西邊出來一般，BBC節目組最近居然被允許進到一個臭名昭著的新疆再教育營中去採訪拍攝。他們能看到、拍到什麼？節目中那一張張「歡快的」笑臉正向你講述什麼故事？

作爲一名曾經被關押在勞教所的倖存者，我覺得有義務講述三個我之前從未講過的勞教所造假的小故事，告訴世界，什麼才觀看BBC節目的正確姿式。

BBC節目：走進中國新疆的「思想轉化營」

英文評論：

Unprecedentedly, BBC was allowed to go inside one of the notorious camps in Xinjiang, where millions of Uighurs are illegally detained, and reportedly tortured. What could they find out? What can those happy faces in BBC’s program tell us? Let me, a labor camp “insider”, who was also once detained in a Chinese labor camp, tell you three small stories, for you to decide, what you should make out of BBC’s “Inside China’s ‘thought transformation’ camps”.