People in Charlottesville work to combat alleged Chinese organ harvesting and brutal practices

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - There are allegations that China has been unethically harvesting organs since 1999. Some people who attest to this first-hand now live in Charlottesville.

“We just want more people to know about this unethical practice inside China,” Dr. Joshua Li said.

Dr. Li is a surgeon with UVA Health. He claims non-consensual surgeries are being performed on prisoners, as well as those who ascribe to the Falun Gong Spirituality.

Their organs are allegedly being sold overseas.

“If you wanted to get a new heart you’d probably want a heart from somebody who was a healthy individual, as opposed to somebody who has been smoking for 20 years or had four drinks a day, used drugs, and so on and so forth,” Dr. Jim Giragosian, an anti-harvesting advocate said.

Practitioners of Falun Gong are believed to be targeted since their spiritual lifestyle prohibits drug and alcohol use.

“It’s a way of life. In the morning, you go to the park and practice, and you try to include truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance into your life,” Falun Gong survivor Tiny Tang said.

Tang and her friend Chunying Wang experienced alleged persecution in China.

“Due to my efforts to raise awareness related to Falun Gong, I got arrested five times and detained for a total of almost six years; five in the notorious Masanjia labor camp,” Wang said.

While in custody, Chunying Wang said she experienced sleep deprivation, electric shock and handcuffing as punishment.

“One time I refused to have my blood drawn and my mouth was taped up for 14 hours, which made it hard to breathe. I was almost suffocated to death,” Wang said.

She wants to make the community aware of the claimed brutality and harvesting, as she says people may not understand where their organ transplants could come from.

They hope that this awareness can work against the continuation of the alleged harvesting and its effects.

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