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Executions 'main source of organs' for transplant programme

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EXECUTED prisoners have become the principle source of supply for China's organ transplant programme, according to a new report by the New York-based human rights group, Human Rights Watch/Asia.

The report issued today to coincide with the 15th Congress of the World Transplant Society in Kyoto, Japan, also claims that executions have been deliberately botched in order to secure fresh organs from living prisoners and that in some cases organs have been removed prior to execution.

Although Chinese law requires the authorities to obtain the consent of prisoners for organ donations, consent is rarely sought and prisoners are often not told of their impending execution until the night before, the report said.

The report further claims that the lack of judicial safeguards in China ''guarantees that many people will be wrongfully executed - and become unwitting organ donors''.

The presence of doctors at the execution site and their involvement in the execution process violates international standards of medical ethics, the report contends.

China and much of East Asia suffer from a serious shortage of organs for transplant because of the traditional reluctance of people to donate their organs after death.

This, combined with the significant increase in judicial executions since China launched its crime crackdown in 1983, the report claims, has led to condemned prisoners becoming the biggest single source of supply for organ transplants in the mainland.

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