Are organs harvested from executed prisoners in the Laogai?
Excerpt from article on the website of the Laogai Research Foundation, at http://www.laogai.org/chinese/aboutus.html. In 1984, the Provisional Regulations on the Use of Dead Bodies or Organs from Condemned Criminals was released jointly by the Supreme Peoples Court, Supreme Peoples Procuratorate, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Public Health, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs. This document stipulates the conditions under which health personnel may harvest organs from executed prisoners, how these health personnel are to coordinate with prison and public security officials, and the confidentiality of the process. Even though the document specifically states that written consent must be obtained, when questioned on the practice, Chinese authorities have yet to produce any sort of viable consent form. When officials wish to harvest the organs of a death-row prisoner, first a blood sample is taken for medical testing. Soon thereafter, the prisoner is executed
