Since the start of the persecution in July 1999 until the present, 4574 cases of murdered Falun Gong practitioners have been confirmed. Many of these cases are deaths by physical torture. Reported cases include being beaten with wooden clubs or electric batons, burned with hot iron bars or being hung upside down for days on end. In about 10 per cent of the cases the cause of death is forced-feeding. Another common cause of death is forced labour. In these cases, Falun Gong practitioners were forced to work 20 hours per day under unhealthy conditions (fumes from glue and other chemical substances). This combined with malnutrition has left them so emaciated that they died.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to maintain Censorship and internet control over the details of the persecution, and tens of thousands of deaths remain unreported. When the facts about the persecution are exposed and a complete story is documented in the coming years, the number of deaths and other victims could be shockingly high.
An independent report by David Kilgour (former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia Pacific) and David Matas (Canadian human rights lawyer renowned for his work concerning the Holocaust) concludes that organs of Falun Gong practitioners are being harvested on a mass scale. The report considers that between 1999 and 2006, an estimated 40,000 and 65,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been killed for their organs. Illegally harvested hearts, livers, lungs, cornea and more were sold, for huge profit, to unsuspecting transplant patients.
In March 2006, a former hospital employee from northeastern China disclosed that in her hospital some 4,000 Falun Gong practitioners had been killed for their organs. Her surgeon husband admitted to removing corneas from the bodies of 2,000 Falun Gong adherents, while they were still alive. Meanwhile the bodies of the killed Falun Gong practitioners were quickly cremated to destroy evidence.
A recent analysis by the WOIPFG implies that millions of Falun Gong practitioners could be victims of organ harvesting.
