(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioner Cheng Peiming from Heilongjiang Province addressed a press conference in Washington DC on August 9, 2024, and recounted how his organs were removed. Several organ transplant experts issued statements or recorded videos testifying that parts of his liver and lung were removed. Human rights advocates called on governments in countries around the world to take action and stop the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) crimes of organ harvesting. Many media in the U.S. and the U.K. published reports on the incident.
Falun Gong practitioner Cheng Peiming recounted the persecution he experienced in China at a press conference in Washington DC on August 9, 2024. Experts on organ transplants verified that parts of his lung and liver were removed.
Dr. Charles Li: Part of Cheng Peiming’s Left Liver and Lung Were Removed
U.S. citizen and Falun Gong practitioner Charles Li, who previously worked as a researcher in magnetic resonance imaging diagnostic studies at Harvard Medical School, said Cheng underwent 9 different medical imaging examinations including 3 CT scans, 3 ultrasound scans and 2 X-rays after he arrived in the U.S. in 2020. In one test, barium was used and an MRI test was done.
Dr. Li said, “We collected around 4,000 medical scan photos. The results showed that Cheng Peiming’s second and third segments of his liver as well as the left lower lobe of his left lung are missing.”
Cheng Peiming (second right) recounted his experience of having his organs removed without his consent at a press conference in Washington DC on August 9, 2024.
Transplant Experts Confirm Cheng Peiming’s Organs Were Forcibly Removed
Professor McGiffin is a cardiothoracic surgeon who trained in Australia and spent many years working at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, in the U.S. He returned to Australia in 2013 and took up the position as Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery at The Alfred Hospital and Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Monash University, Melbourne. He wrote in his statement, “In July 2023, I was approached via the executive director of the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC), Susie Hughes, for an expert opinion on thoracic CT scans which were taken of a patient who may have been a victim of forced organ procurement in China. I serve in a voluntary capacity on ETAC’s International Advisory Committee and Australian Committee. The CT scan was of a Mr. Cheng Pei Ming. The thoracic CT scan demonstrates that there has been removal of at least half the left lower lobe of the lung.”
Professor Emeritus Russell W. Strong is a pioneer in the field of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery and Liver Transplantation, both in the Asia Pacific region and internationally. He set up the first liver transplant program in Australia in 1985 and pioneered several aspects of this field. He wrote in his statement: “The details on the CT scans I viewed are as follows: The left lateral sector of the liver (segments 2 & 3) is missing. Segment 4 of the liver is present and hypertrophied, possibly as a result of removal of the left lateral sector.”
At the press conference, a video recording from Taiwan physician Ding Kai-ting was played. He narrated his analysis:
1. Part of the left lateral lobe of the liver is missing. Specifically, the 8-lobule division, which means that the second and third lobules are missing.
2. The fourth lobule and the right lobe of the liver have increased in size, which may be related to the corresponding regeneration of liver tissue after partial removal of the left lobe of the liver.
3. The 3D reconstructed CT image shows that the local and partial surface of the left lobe of the liver is uneven. These uneven surfaces are likely caused by scar tissue left after surgery. Because the problems that generally cause the surface of the liver to be uneven, such as cirrhosis, liver fibrosis, chronic hepatitis, Budd-Chiari syndrome, etc., usually cause systemic changes in the entire liver, the entire liver surface should be uneven, not just locally. However, Mr. Cheng’s image only shows that the surface of the local left lobe of the liver is uneven. In addition, Mr. Cheng’s medical history does not show relevant records of liver tumors or liver abscesses. These conditions were not seen in the observations and examination reports of American clinicians. Therefore, the most likely cause of the uneven surface of the local left lobe of the liver is from previous surgery.
Ding Kai-ting is an attending physician in the Department of Hepatobiliary and Gastroenterology in Taiwan
Medical experts verified that Cheng Peiming was subjected to organ harvesting
Cheng Peiming: Speaking Out for Practitioners Killed in the Persecution
Cheng Peiming escaped from China in 2015. With the help of U.S. officials, he arrived in America from Thailand in 2020.
He said at the press conference: “I’m speaking out today because the practitioners who were detained with me in the past, they cannot speak out. They have passed away. We made a promise, whoever survives must tell the truth. It’s not easy for me to come to America, and I thank the U.S. government for rescuing me.”
Robert A. Destro, former Assistant Secretary of State who assisted in rescuing Cheng, said at the press conference: “We carried out a series of tests on Mr. Cheng and studies. We let the experts make professional diagnoses and appraisals.” “Those pictures and evidence are very convincing.”
“What I want to tell you is, this is a big problem. Please don’t say it’s just a Falun Gong problem. No. This is a big problem.”
Robert A. Destro is a former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and is a Professor of Law at The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C.
Robert A. Destro, former Assistant Secretary of State, spoke at the press conference.
Human Rights Advocates Call for Organ Harvesting to be Stopped
Katrina Lantos Swett, president of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, commended Cheng’s courage in speaking out. She said that her organization had spoken to Cheng previously and she found his account “deeply disturbing.”
“They offer further evidence of the egregious human rights abuse happening in China in the form of forced organ harvesting,” she said. “This outrageous violation of fundamental rights continues despite the Chinese government’s claims to the contrary and we must do more to raise awareness about it and call on governments to implement laws and policies designed to stop it.”
Dr. Eric Patterson, President of Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC), wrote in his statement:
“The account of this survivor reveals deeply troubling evidence of coerced surgical procedures and severe human rights violations. At Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, we strongly condemn any form of involuntary medical intervention or abuse, especially forced organ harvesting targeting vulnerable populations.
“This case highlights the urgent need to address medical atrocities carried out by the Chinese Communist Party. We stand in solidarity with all victims and call for robust action to prevent such atrocities, including support for measures like the recently introduced Falun Gong Protection Act. It is imperative that we work together to end these human rights violations and hold perpetrators accountable.”
Professor Wendy Rogers and Chair of the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China (ETAC)’s International Advisory Board said: “This is a case of surgical assault resulting in the theft of organ parts, as well as pain and suffering. This case illustrates callous indifference to the human rights of prisoners of conscience in China. Not only was Mr. Cheng incarcerated and tortured, he was drugged and assaulted by surgeons, who removed parts of his organs without consent or medical need. I do not know why the Chinese doctors removed parts of Mr. Cheng’s liver and lungs, but I do know that he did not have a disease or illness requiring this surgery. What I do know is that Mr. Cheng was surgically assaulted as part of a wider pattern of persecution, incarceration and torture, and that these events happened to him because he is a practitioner of Falun Gong.”
David Matas, an international human rights lawyer and ETAC Co-Founder, said:
“Mr. Cheng is, in one sense, typical, a Falun Gong practitioner with organs extracted. In another sense he is unusual because he survived organ extraction, his vital organs – liver and lung – having been extracted only in part, and because he escaped both the Chinese authorities and China itself.
“Like other Falun Gong practitioners, Mr. Cheng was never told he was going to be organ extracted. Nor was he told afterwards that he had been organ extracted. He found this out after he fled China and was medically examined.
“Despite the unusual nature of the case of Mr. Cheng, his survival and escape, his victimization demonstrates a general phenomenon, the brutality of the victimization of Falun Gong, a brutality that extends to organ harvesting. He illustrates a general phenomenon, the exception which proves the norm, the norm in this case being the gruesome reality of the mass killing of Falun Gong for their organs.”
David Matas, an international human rights lawyer and ETAC Co-Founder, spoke at the press conference.
In May 2006, CIPFG, headquartered in Washington DC, asked David Kilgour and David Matas to investigate the organ harvesting. After two months of investigations, “Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China” was published on July 6, 2006. The report confirmed systematic organ harvesting – in particular targeted at Falun Gong practitioners. The report also said: In China, government led persecution of innocent victims is an unprecedented form of evil in this world.
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