Taiwan is mulling tightening the procedures for harvesting organs from executed prisoners in reaction to allegations of human rights abuses, a health official said.
Discussions have been held about tightening the controversial procedure, said Chen I-an, an official with the Bureau of Medical Affairs under the department of health.
Chen said some changes had been made to the procedure to facilitate the taking of organs from the bodies of prisoners.
"According to the stipulations, it should take at least 12 hours for doctors to determine if executed prisoners really die after they are shot," he said, referring to "brain stem death."
However, the required procedure had been controversially shortened to make sure organs stripped from the executed prisoners remained "fresh" following an official decision 10 years ago.
The authorities had also made the decision to execute prisoners by a shot to the head rather than the chest.
Human rights groups have slammed the shortened procedure, which has been criticized for, in some rare cases, being tantamount to stripping organs from executed prisoners who may be still alive.
But Chen was swift to contrast the taking of organs from executed prisoners here with alleged cases in China, saying that Taiwanese prisoners signed consent forms for the procedure.
"Here executed prisoners must sign off on documents showing their moves [donating organs] are voluntary and have nothing to do with profits," Chen said.
"And any of their such papers must be certified by social workers and doctors suggesting that their donation of organs were not made under any pressure," he said.
Last year 11 of 17 criminals who were executed in Taiwan had organs taken from their bodies, according to Department of Health tallies.
Eight out of the 26 criminals executed in 1999 had had their organs transplanted.
A doctor exiled from China told a US congressional committee last month how he was forced to strip the skin from executed death row prisoners, saying he was breaking his silence to expose an evil trade in human organs.
Wang Guoqi, a 38-year-old physician, said he had skinned corpses and removed corneas of over 100 executed prisoners, in his grisly testimony at a high-profile hearing.
China denied the allegations.
To comply with the government's human rights drive, Justice Minister Chen Ting-nan said for the first time in May that he hoped to abolish the death penalty within three years, prompting a mixed reaction.
While human rights groups hailed Chen, opposition parties poured cold water on the idea.
Local media said past surveys suggested about 80 percent of people in Taiwan opposed the abolition of death penalty.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
The Philippines yesterday criticized a “high-risk” maneuver by a Chinese vessel near the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in a rare incident involving warships from the two navies. The Scarborough Shoal — a triangular chain of reefs and rocks in the contested South China Sea — has been a flash point between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012. Taiwan also claims the shoal. Monday’s encounter took place approximately 11.8 nautical miles (22km) southeast” of the Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine military said, during ongoing US-Philippine military exercises that Beijing has criticized as destabilizing. “The Chinese frigate BN 554 was
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began talks with high-ranking Chinese officials in Switzerland yesterday aiming to de-escalate a dispute that threatens to cut off trade between the world’s two biggest economies and damage the global economy. The US delegation has begun meetings in Geneva with a Chinese delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰), Xinhua News Agency said. Diplomats from both sides also confirmed that the talks have begun, but spoke anonymously and the exact location of the talks was not made public. Prospects for a major breakthrough appear dim, but there is
RSS