Imposition of the Death Penalty and its Impact in China_ The Rights Practice_ April 2022 28. 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. However, there are no laws or regulations banning its practice and Chinese law allows prisoners to “consent to donating organs”. Consent by prisoner and individuals sentenced to death 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.”19 In 2017 Chinese officials stated that it was not possible to guarantee that the use of organs from prisoners had ceased and it is thought that the practice remains widespread.20 29. There is evidence to suggest that organs, including hearts, have been removed from prisoners before they would be considered medically dead by international standards. Thus, in these cases the medical professionals carrying out the organ procurement would have participated in the executions. This practice goes against the “Dead Donor Rule” which states that organ donors must not be killed by and for organ donation. 21 Individuals in these cases may experience asphyxiation and pain.22 6) Treatment of bodies of the executed, including the place of burial and the return of bodies. 30. The lack of open information on the treatment of bodies of the executed means that China cannot guarantee that executed individuals’ right to human dignity is respected. 31. The SPC Interpretation on the Application of the Criminal Procedure Law (2013), Article 428, states that after an execution the court responsible will notify the prisoner’s family to retrieve their ashes. It also states that where there is no capacity for cremation or that cremation has not been carried out due to religious, ethnic or other reasons then the family will be notified to retrieve the corpse.23 32. Family members of executed prisoners have spoken about their discontent at not being able to see their bodies after they have been executed and not knowing what has happened to them. Families have also expressed fears that they may have been subjected to forced organ harvesting due to this lack of information.24 33. There have also been concerns raised that bodies from executed prisoners have been used for medical purposes and in exhibitions without consent. In 2018, the International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China raised concerns that an exhibition of real bodies in Australia included bodies of executed Chinese prisoners25. They argued that the organisers’ claims that 20 cadavers were legally provided by a medical university in China were “unclaimed corpses” could not be correct. Chinese hospitals keep bodies for 30 days until declaring them unclaimed but the plasticisation process needed for the exhibition must commence within 48 hours of death. World Medical Association. “WMA Statement on Organ and Tissue Donation.” October 2017. https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wmastatement-on-organ-and-tissue-donation/ 20 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 21 Robertson, Matthew, Lavee, Jacob. “Execution by organ procurement: Breaching the dead donor rule in China.” American Journal of Transplantation published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. 19 January 2022. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ajt.16969 22 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. 23 The Supreme People’s Court Interpretation on the Application of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China. Unofficial English translation, China Law Translate: https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/en/The-Supreme-People%5C%27s-Court-interpretation-on-theapplication-of-the-Criminal-Procedure-Law/?edit=1 24 Interview record, 2008 case, please contact The Rights Practice for more information. 25 Smee, Ben. “Call to shut Real Bodies exhibition over fears it uses executed prisoners.” The Guardian. 24 April 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/apr/25/call-to-shut-real-bodies-exhibition-over-fears-it-uses-executed-prisoners 19 6