Ex-prisoner speaks against China

Chinese human rights activist Harry Wu spoke out against violations of human rights in labor camps, organ removals of deceased prisoners and the use of non-consenting bodies in a local exhibition on May 13 in Mainstreet Cinema.

Wu served 19 years in prison as a counter-revolutionary rightist. Released in 1979, he immigrated to the U.S. where he began speaking against the Chinese government.

"Ninety-five percent of the organs [for transplants] come from executed prisoners," Wu said.

He also said China is second in the world, following the U.S., in transplant procedures with 13,000 a year.

In situations where the individual consents, the family consents or there is no one to collect the body, the government has a right to take it, Wu said. The organs are often removed on the way to a crematory, according to Wu.

Wu estimated as many as 8,000 to 10,000 prisoners may be executed each year in China.

Wu displayed photographs depicting bodies of prisoners ready for plastination that were given to him by Gunther von Hagens. Von Hagens invented plastination, a process that preserves human and animal remains, and runs "Body Worlds," a competing exhibit to "BODIES…The Exhibition."

"BODIES…The Exhibition" is organized by Premier Exhibitions, Inc. The exhibit is currently on display at the Cincinnati Museum Center until Sept. 1 and displays preserved, dissected human bodies revealing various internal organs and muscles.

Premier Exhibitions, Inc. said their bodies come from a university in China, but according to morristsai.com, an opposition Web site to the exhibit, they come from a facility at an unknown location, and a university professor runs the facility, but the university is not involved.

The main concern is the lack of consent, according to Janice Jezek, a concerned citizen who helped bring Wu to Cincinnati. Jezek also said she was concerned that the exhibit included just one culture - Chinese.

Wu could not confirm that any of the individuals in "BODIES…The Exhibition" were executed prisoners, but said it is clear from photographs of the exhibit that bodies are being plastinized.

"Prisoner or not is not the issue. It's consent. If they got consent, where is [the] paper?" said Shiou-yi Chen, an audience member. "There's still missing evidence. It's not difficult to make conclusion."