David Matas on Exposing China’s Illicit Organ Trade: ‘The Problem Isn’t Too Little Evidence. It’s Too Much’
American Thought Leaders
The Epoch Times
4.9 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 30 March 2023
⏱️ 39 minutes
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Summary
“We’ve been lying to ourselves so long, we don’t know the truth when we see it,” says international human rights lawyer David Matas. For nearly two decades now, he has been one of the leading researchers examining the evidence of the Chinese regime harvesting the organs of living Falun Gong practitioners.
“The medical profession here in the U.S. needs to start looking at the facts and not simply accept Chinese government statements about how good they are at face value,” Matas says.
Up to now, the United States has only passed symbolic resolutions condemning the practice of forced organ harvesting. But just yesterday night, the House passed the first ever U.S. bill with actual means to hold the perpetrators accountable.
Dubbed the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2023, H.R. 1154 aims to sanction anyone involved in forced organ trafficking and requires annual government reporting on such activities taking place in each foreign country.
Those found to be involved will face a criminal penalty of up to $1 million and 20 years in prison. If its companion bill passes the Senate, the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act may soon make its way to President Biden’s desk.
“Obviously, if you kill somebody in the U.S. for their organs, you’re going to be prosecuted. It should be the same if you leave the country and then come back,” Matas says.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We've been lying to ourselves so long, we don't know the truth when we see it. |
| 0:02.8 | Today I sit down with international human rights lawyer David Maedis. |
| 0:06.5 | For nearly two decades now, he has been one of the leading researchers examining the evidence |
| 0:11.6 | of forced organ harvesting in China. |
| 0:14.0 | The medical profession here in the US needs to start looking at the facts, not simply except Chinese government statements |
| 0:21.7 | about how good they are at face of audience. |
| 0:23.5 | On Monday night, the US House of Representatives passed the first-ever US bill |
| 0:28.6 | to hold the perpetrators of organ trafficking crimes accountable. |
| 0:32.5 | Obviously, if you kill somebody in the US or the organs, you're going to be prosecuted. |
| 0:35.8 | It should be the same if you leave the country and then come back. |
| 0:39.3 | This is American Thought Leaders, and I'm Janja Kellek. |
| 0:45.6 | David Maedis, such a pleasure to have you on American Thought Leaders. |
| 0:49.0 | Thanks for inviting me. |
| 0:50.2 | David, you once, a long time ago, coined the phrase a crime yet to be seen on this planet. |
| 0:58.2 | If I recall correctly. |
| 1:00.2 | And this is what I want to talk about today. |
| 1:03.2 | This is what's called forced organ harvesting. |
| 1:06.2 | How you came to discover this and where we are today. |
| 1:10.2 | Well, I've been doing international human rights work more or less all my professional life. |
| 1:16.2 | And there was this woman with a pseudonym Annie that made a public statement actually in Washington |
| 1:24.2 | was March 2006, saying that her ex-husband had been harvesting corneas of felongong practitioners |
| 1:35.2 | in Sujiat and hospital in Chenyang City and Leonang Province in China. |
... |
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