Govind Tekale
A Medical Professional’s Disturbing Account
In testimony presented to several governments including Canada’s Parliament, Dr. Enver Tohti Bughda, a former surgeon from East Turkestan (called Xinjiang by Chinese authorities), has revealed shocking details about his direct involvement in organ extraction from a prisoner who was still alive.
“I was a young surgeon at the Railway Central Hospital. In the summer of 1995, my chief surgeons instructed me to gather a medical team and equipment. The next day, we followed them to what I later learned was an execution ground,” Dr. Tohti testified.
After hearing gunshots, his team was directed to a specific body. “A police officer shouted at us: ‘To the right, far right, the last one is yours.’ The man appeared to be in his 30s, wearing civilian clothes. The bullet had gone through his right chest.”
What happened next continues to haunt Dr. Tohti: “As my scalpel was finding its way, cutting through the skin, blood could be seen flowing, which implies that the heart was still beating. The man was still alive!”
Under pressure from his superiors, Dr. Tohti completed the operation, extracting the liver and both kidneys. Afterward, he was told to “remember that nothing happened today.”
The Laboratory of East Turkestan
According to multiple testimonies, Xinjiang has been used as what Dr. Tohti describes as “a gigantic open-top human laboratory” since the Chinese Communist Party took control in 1949.
Between October 16, 1964, and July 29, 1996, 46 nuclear tests were conducted in the region (23 atmospheric, 23 underground). The health consequences have been severe. Professor Takada Jun of Sapporo Medical University in Japan stated that “more than 190,000 people have died in nuclear explosions in China, while two million have indirectly died by radiation.”
The region’s extraordinarily high cancer rates offer stark evidence of these consequences. Dr. Tohti noted that “Xinjiang Cancer Hospital was established in 1994 and opened with 500 beds. By 2007, the hospital had expanded to 2,000 beds” – despite the region having only 20 million residents. By comparison, Henan Province, with a population of about 100 million, had only 850 hospital beds for cancer patients in the same time period.
The Scale of Organ Harvesting
Several pieces of evidence point to systematic organ harvesting. As early as 1990, Dr. Tohti encountered patients concerned about missing organs. “One day, a middle-aged man came to my clinic with his teenage son and asked me to help him check if his son had his organ been stolen,” he testified, explaining that disappearances followed by returns with surgical scars had become common in certain communities.
Particularly troubling are photographs from airports in Xinjiang and Qinghai showing special lanes for “human organs transportation.” As Dr. Tohti points out, these are sparsely populated regions, raising questions about the source of so many organs.
The math doesn’t add up. While the UK has approximately 24 million registered organ donors (about one-third of its population), China reportedly has fewer than 2 million registered donors – just 0.0014% of its population. Yet China performs a high volume of organ transplants with extraordinarily short waiting times.
Concentration Camp Horrors
Sayragul Sauytbay, an ethnic Kazakh who worked in one of the detention facilities, provided chilling testimony about conditions inside what she calls “the 21st century’s fascist concentration camp.”
“In the fascist concentration camp where I was imprisoned, there were about 2,500 people just in one concentration camp, and all of them were innocent people who were sent to the concentration camp with fake claims,” she testified.
The prisoners, ranging from 13 to 80 years old, faced brutal conditions: “The imprisoned people were handcuffed hands and feet, all of them. Every corner of the prison cell had CCTV cameras… they controlled our every move 24 hours a day.”
Most disturbing were her accounts of sexual violence: “All women, young women as well, were raped daily by the workers in the concentration camp.” She described witnessing a young woman being gang-raped by guards in front of 200 other prisoners as a form of psychological torture and control.
Medical Atrocities
According to Sauytbay, prisoners were subjected to forced medical procedures: “In these concentration camps prisoners were forcibly sterilized, and they were forcibly given special medication. After that, women lost their ability to menstruate and men lost their ability to have a future family.”
These accounts align with research by Dr. Adrian Zenz, who testified that “in 2018, a stunning 80% of all newly placed IUDs in China were fitted in Xinjiang, even though the region only makes up 1.8% of the country’s population.”
A Systematic Campaign
What emerges from these testimonies is evidence of what multiple witnesses and experts have called genocide. As Sauytbay stated: “Currently what the Chinese Communist Party is doing in East Turkestan in the 21st century is the same kind of genocide the fascist Germans did 70 years ago against the Jewish people.”
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Dr. Zenz characterized it as “a Holocaust 2.0, but much more sophisticated. It flies below the radar of a lot of atrocity and classic genocide definitions, but it’s all the more terrifying in the long term.”
The personal toll is immense. Kamila Talendibaevai, whose husband Huseyin Celil has been imprisoned since 2006, described the agony of uncertainty: “In this 21st century, with so much technology, we have nothing. We have no calls, no information, no mail, no letters, nothing.”
These accounts from multiple witnesses, collected through government hearings and formal testimonies, paint a deeply troubling picture of systematic human rights abuses targeting ethnic minorities in Xinjiang – abuses that continue to this day despite growing international awareness.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What evidence exists that China is harvesting organs from prisoners?
Multiple pieces of evidence suggest systematic organ harvesting in China. Dr. Enver Tohti personally testified about being ordered to remove organs from a still-living prisoner in 1995. Photos show special airport lanes for “human organs transportation” in sparsely populated regions like Xinjiang. Additionally, China reports very few registered organ donors (less than 0.0014% of the population) yet performs many transplants with unusually short waiting times. Dr. Tohti and other medical professionals have also encountered patients with surgical scars indicating organ removal after temporary disappearances.
Who are the Uyghurs and why are they being targeted?
The Uyghurs are a Turkic ethnic group native to East Turkestan (officially called Xinjiang by China). They have their own language, culture, and primarily practice Islam. According to testimonies, China sees them as an obstacle to their economic expansion plans, particularly the Belt and Road Initiative. Control over Xinjiang is strategically important to China for resources and transportation routes. The Chinese government has systematically tried to suppress Uyghur identity, language, and religion, labeling many Uyghurs as “extremists” or “separatists” to justify detention and control.
What happens inside the detention camps in Xinjiang?
According to testimony from Sayragul Sauytbay, who worked inside a camp, prisoners face constant surveillance, physical restraints, and torture. Detainees are forced to learn Chinese language, culture, and Communist Party ideology. Sexual violence is widespread, with reports of daily rape of female prisoners. Medical procedures, including forced sterilization, are performed without consent. Prisoners are punished for showing any negative emotion or resistance. The ages of detainees range from 13 to 80, and family members often have no information about their relatives’ whereabouts or condition.
How many people are being held in these camps?
Estimates vary, but testimony to government bodies suggests that between 1 and 3 million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have been detained in what China calls “re-education” or “vocational training” centers. Sauytbay testified that one single camp held about 2,500 people. Witnesses report that many communities have seen large percentages of their population disappear into these facilities. Dr. Adrian Zenz, a researcher who testified about the situation, stated that in some areas up to 28% of all Uyghurs, especially males, have been interned.
What has been the international response to these human rights abuses?
Several countries, including the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom, have held parliamentary hearings on the issue. Some countries have passed legislation like the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act in the U.S. Several Western countries have issued joint statements at the UN Human Rights Council calling for access to the region for independent investigation. Some countries have imposed sanctions on Chinese officials believed to be responsible for the abuses. However, many countries, particularly those with economic ties to China or those participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, have remained silent or supported China’s actions.
What does China say about these allegations?
The Chinese government denies all allegations of human rights abuses. They claim the facilities are voluntary vocational training centers aimed at combating extremism and terrorism. China contends that all organ transplants come from voluntary donors and that they have reformed their organ donation system. They have refused requests from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for “full access to carry out an independent assessment” of the situation in Xinjiang. When confronted with evidence like satellite imagery of the camps, China has called these international concerns “interference in internal affairs” and “politically motivated attacks.”
