China Olympics Highlights "Bloody Harvest"

Dear IOC President Jacques Rogge,
members of the International Olympic Committee,
members of the National Olympic Committees,
Olympic athletes, coaches and sponsors:

Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH) is concerned about unethical organ procurement practices in China. The report "Bloody Harvest" by co-authors David Kilgour and David Matas examined these allegations, provided circumstantial evidence and came to the conclusion it is reasonable to say that in China organs are removed from executed prisoners as well as from living, non-consenting donors, in particular from practitioners of the peaceful meditation movement Falun Gong (Falun Dafa). As medical doctors, we are extremely concerned about these practices.

Recent remarks by the organizer of the Olympic Games as well as the evidenced 8-year-long persecution of Falun Gong indicate that the Chinese government will continue to persecute and discriminate Falun Gong during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. As medical doctors we identify the discrimination, probably even hatred, against Falun Gong as underlying reason for the live organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China.

We believe that the exclusion and discrimination of Falun Gong at the 2008 Olympic Games, as indicated by the director of the Beijing Olympics media center in November 2007, is violating the Olympic Charter, the Olympic Movement as well as the Olympic Spirit. Discrimination against any athlete or audience at the Olympic Games due to individual belief is a disgrace to the Olympic Spirit and the Olympic movement.

The Olympic Charter assigns the IOC to oversee compliance with the regulations of the Olympic Charter. We therefore strongly request from the IOC to demand from the organizer of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing to conform with the Olympic Charter and to refrain from any kind of discrimination against Falun Gong or any other religious group during the Olympic Games.

We ask the IOC to assure unrestricted access of Falun Gong to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing at all Olympic sites and venues.

We believe that our request to the IOC is for the good of the Olympic Movement, the IOC as well as thousands of innocent victims.

We would appreciate hearing from you within 3 weeks after receipt of this letter.

Sincerely
Torsten Trey, MD
Chief Executive Director DAFOH

cc:
George W. Bush, President of the United States of America
Hans-Gert Poettering, President of the European Parliament
Edward McMillan-Scott, Vice-President of the European Parliament
Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations
Kenneth Roth, Executive Director Human Rights Watch
Lucie Morillion, Reporters Without Borders
Steven Spielberg, Film director and producer
Mia Farrow, Actress

Source: DAFOH