organs being removed before the prisoner would be considered medically dead by international standards. 45 Procuring Organs from Executed Prisoners China has stated that it would end the sourcing of organs from prisoners, but there are no laws or regulations in place banning its practice and Chinese law allows for Chinese prisoners to “consent” to donating organs. However, consent by prisoners and those sentenced to death, as well as their families, is not free from coercion or always fully informed. The World Medical Association states that “in jurisdictions where the death penalty is practised, executed prisoners must not be considered as organ and/or tissue donors”. In 2006, Chinese officials admitted that organs were widely sourced from executed prisoners and in 2007 claimed it would reduce this number. In 2014, Huang Jiefu, China’s most senior official responsible for organ transplantation, stated that China would end the procurement of organs from prisoners by 1 January 2015, but in 2017 Chinese officials stated that it was still not possible to guarantee that the use of organs from prisoners had ceased and it is believed that the practice is widespread.46 Statistical analysis of official Chinese datasets for deceased organ donation from 2010 to 2018 revealed that, surprisingly, the number of voluntary donations conforms almost exactly to a simple mathematical formula. The researchers, publishing their findings in BMC Medical Ethics, concluded that having examined a variety of evidence the official organ datasets can “only be explained by systemic falsification and manipulation”.47 Without transparent and accurate data on organ donations it is impossible to guarantee that organs are not being procured from prisoners sentenced to death. The practice of involuntary organ procurement raises concerns for families. In one case, the mother of a man executed in 2008, expressed suspicions that her son’s organs had been used without her knowledge, and asked questions about whether her child had consented to his organs being transplanted. The court had refused to allow her husband to see her son’s body, and so they were very worried that their son’s organs had been removed for transplant purposes. Public Executions Under Chinese law executions cannot be carried out in public. The Criminal Procedure Law, article 252 stipulates that executions shall be publicly announced, but not publicly displayed. Previously there were cases of people being executed publicly. We know of no recent reports, although public sentencing does still take place. 45 Paul, Norbert, Caplan, Arthur, Shapiro, Michael, Els, Charls, Allison, Kirk, Li, Huige. (2018) ‘Determination of Death in Execution by Lethal Injection in China.’ Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 27, 459-466. 2018. 46 Amnesty International. ‘Death sentences and Executions 2017.’ 2017. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/04/death-penalty-sentences-and-executions-2017/ 47 Robertson, Matthew P., et al. ‘Analysis of Official Deceased Organ Donation Data Casts Doubt on the Credibility of China’s Organ Transplant Reform.’ BMC Medical Ethics, vol. 20, no. 1, p. 79. November. 2019, doi:10.1186/s12910-0190406-6. 56