Monitoring the Falun Gong Human Rights Crisis in China

• High-ranking Chinese Official Calls for an End to Falun Gong Persecution
• Beyond the Red Wall/ One-Hour Documentary on Falun Gong to Air November 6th
• Joint Letter Responds to Chinese Medical Association Agreement on Organ Harvesting

High-ranking Chinese Official Calls for an End to Falun Gong Persecution

Wang Zhaojun, a standing member of the Anhui Province Political Consultative Conference and successful entrepreneur, published an open letter to Chinese leaders Hu Jintao, and Wen Jiabao on Oct. 22, 2007. In the letter, he described a variety of crises facing Chinese society including environmental damage and a real estate bubble. He also called urgently for an end to the campaign against Falun Gong.

"The suppression against Falun Gong is in fact suppression against all people. It needs to be stopped immediately and the victims should be given state compensation," wrote Wang, according to The Epoch Times, whose Chinese edition published the letter. "The purpose of my suggestion is to end the persecution against Falun Gong as quickly as possible, so China's progress towards democracy can move forward quickly. I hope there will be a Gorbachev or Yeltsin in China."

Wang is the latest of a number of prominent figures in China who have called for an end to the persecution against Falun Gong in recent years. Others have included human rights lawyers such as Gao Zhisheng, Guo Guoting and Li Heping, as well as former Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin.

Full Report: http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-11-5/61666.html

Beyond the Red Wall/ One-Hour Documentary on Falun Gong to Air November 6th

A one-hour documentary about Falun Gong with never-before-seen footage smuggled from inside China will air on Canadian television November 6. The film, which has been three years in the making, was produced and directed by Toronto-based Peter Rowe, famed for his "Angry Planet" series. The film focuses on the story of Canadian artist and professor Zhang Kunlun who was detained in a Chinese labor camp for three years.

In addition to Zhang, the film includes interviews with lawyers, politicians and Ian Johnson, a Wall Street Journal correspondent who won a Pulitzer Prize for his investigations into the campaign against Falun Gong. Johnson says in the film that the persecution against Falun Gong "remains one of the scars on the body politic of China" and that the time has come for the regime to "come out and deal with this and say there was this terrible crackdown, this repression, and these people were systematically persecuted."

Beyond relaying the atrocities occurring in China, Red Wall also documents the ways in which Falun Gong adherents around the world have advocated on behalf of their Chinese counterparts, lobbying politicians and calling attention to the brutality of the persecution.

Beyond the Red Wall will air on CBC Newsworld on Tuesday, November 6 at 10:00 pm ET/PT, The film will also be aired in Ireland this fall. Rights for U.S. distribution are available through the producer.

Documentary Info Link: http://www.cbc.ca/thelens/program_061107.html

Joint Letter Responds to Chinese Medical Association Agreement on Organ Harvesting

A recent agreement between the World Medical Association and the Chinese Medical Association (CMA) to end organ sourcing from prisoners in China has come under scrutiny by overseas doctors and human rights groups.

On October 25, 2007, Dr. Torsten Trey of Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting, David Matas, David Kilgour, and the Human Rights Law Foundation published an open letter detailing concerns about the agreement. Among the concerns articulated in the letter are the following:

• The CMA agreement does not bind doctors who are not members of the CMA. In particular, it does not bind military doctors who are not members of the CMA or military hospitals. Yet, organ recipients recount that military doctors and hospitals are heavily involved in organ transplant surgery.
• There is no verification system in place to determine whether or not the agreement with the CMA is being upheld. Such a monitoring system needs to be independent from the Government of China and the CMA itself.

Full Letter: http://david-kilgour.com/2007/Oct_25_2007_02.htm