[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 2



PAKISTAN----executions

Pakistan hangs 4 suspected Taliban members over school massacre


Pakistani security officials say authorities have hanged 4 militants who were 
sentenced to death over a Taliban attack on an army-run school last year that 
killed more than 150 people, mostly children.

The 2 officials said the men were executed Wednesday in the northwestern city 
of Kohat. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not 
authorized to speak to media.

The executions came less than 2 weeks after Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz 
Sharif asked the country's president to reject the clemency petitions of the 4 
"terrorists."

The Dec. 16 attack on the school in Peshawar was claimed by the Taliban and 
prompted Pakistan to lift a 2008 moratorium on the death penalty. Since then, 
Pakistan has hanged nearly 300 people, most of them convicted criminals, not 
militants.

(source: Associated Press)

***************

Peshawar school attacks: Pakistan hangs 4 militants linked to incident


The Pakistan government has hanged 4 men linked to Peshawar army school 
massacre which killed nearly 150 children on December 16 last year. The 
horrific attacks have left the world shocked at it was one of the most brutal 
attacks in the Pakistan history.

Pakistan Taliban had taken the responsibility of the attacks. The 3 convicts 
Maulvi Abdus Salam, Hazrat Ali, Mujeebur Rehman and Sabeel alias Yahya had 
filed mercy pleas to President of Pakistan on November 20.

Gen Raheel Sharif signed the black warrants of the 4 convicts who were 
sentenced to death by special military court established after the school 
attack for speedy trial of militants, the army said in a statement.

After the signing of death warrants, there was no legal bar on the hangings of 
the convicts. The terror act had brought condemnation even from the close 
allies of the Tehreek-e-Taliban who claimed responsibility of the attack.

Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid in a statement had said that his 
group sympathised with the victims.

By current hangings brings 300 convicts hanged in the country, upsetting local 
and international human rights groups.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had lifted a self-imposed moratorium on death 
penalty in terror related cases after this attack. Prime Minister Sharif told 
an All Parties Conference here that the moratorium on death penalty has been 
lifted.

(source: News Nation)






IRAN----executions

7 prisoners hanged in Minab and Zahedan


The Iranian regime's judiciary in the southern province of Hormozgan hanged at 
least 5 prisoners.

The 5 prisoners were all sentenced to death allegedly for drug related 
offences, the judiciary said on Tuesday.

Another group of 2 prisoners were hanged on Monday in southeastern Iran in a 
prison in city of Zahedan.

The cycle of suppression, in particular group hangings, continues in Iran after 
the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly adopted of a 
resolution condemning rights violation on 19 November.

Amnesty International said in a statement last week: "The rate of executions in 
Iran is deplorable which, if they continue at the current rate, could reach 
more than 1,000 this year. In case after case we hear allegations of torture, 
fundamentally flawed trials, all in breach of international law and standards."

(soruce: NCR-Iran)






SAUDI ARABIA:

Saudi death row cleric in 'high spirits': brother


Saudi death row Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr is in high spirits despite reports 
he is at risk of imminent execution, his brother said on Monday after visiting 
the sheikh.

"He's good, very well, high spirits. His health is very good and he is ready 
for anything, even for death," Jaffar al-Nimr told AFP.

The brother spoke after he and several other family members, including Nimr's 
mother, spent about 1 hour with him at Al-Hair prison near Riyadh.

Nimr was a driving force behind protests that erupted in 2011 in eastern Saudi 
Arabia, where most of the Shiite minority live.

The protests developed into a call for equality in the Sunni-ruled kingdom, 
where many Shiites have complained of marginalisation.

Amnesty International said on Thursday that he was among 6 Shiite activists at 
imminent risk of execution who were "clearly convicted in unfair trials".

The London-based human rights group said the 6 were among a total of 50 people 
who could soon be put to death in a single day.

Media "close to the Saudi Arabian authorities" had reported on the execution 
plans, Amnesty said.

Nimr is not concerned by those stories, his brother said, accusing the interior 
ministry of sometimes issuing reports in order to gauge public reaction.

But Nimr's family are still "very worried," he said.

Among the other activists who Amnesty said are at risk of imminent execution is 
Nimr al-Nimr's nephew Ali al-Nimr, who was 17 when he was arrested following 
the protests for reform.

Ali al-Nimr is also detained at Al-Hair prison, and his father is to visit him 
in 3 weeks, Jaffar al-Nimr said.

(source: al-monitor.com)






BANGLADESH:

Nizami's lawyers have admitted to his crimes, appealed to commute death 
sentence: AG


Attorney General Mahbubey Alam has said lawyers for the war crimes convict and 
Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami have admitted to the crimes 
committed by their client and appealed to the Supreme Court to commute the 
death sentence.

Alam told journalists that towards the end of the arguments by the defence at 
Wednesday's hearing, Nizami's chief counsel Khandker Mahbub Hossain had made 
the admission.

But Khandker Mahbub has rubbished the claim and shot back, "Have we gone mad?"

Alam had said: "From their submission, it appears to me that it is for the 1st 
time that the lawyers for any convicted Jamaat leader have confessed to the 
crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War and appealed for only commuting 
the death sentence."

Alam quoted Khandker Mahbub as saying in court, "It's a historical fact that 
people were killed and the then Jamaat abetted these (killings). Motiur Rahman 
Nizami had supported these out of conviction."

"At the end, Mahbub Hossain appealed to the court that even if Nizami had 
committed these crimes, his death sentence be commuted considering his age," 
the attorney general said.

"That's my take on what I've understood from the hearing," he promptly added.

Former Al-Badr chief Nizami was handed down the maximum penalty on Oct 29 last 
year for leading the execution of intellectuals, mass killing, rape and loot 
during the war.

He was president of the Jamaat's student front and headed the notorious Al-Badr 
militia during the War of Liberation.

According to the verdict, he was involved in the killing of intellectuals, 
which underscores 'supreme responsibility' for the crimes.

Nizami has denied the charges and challenged the verdict in the Appellate 
Division.

The 72-year-old former minister carries a death sentence in the 10-truck arms 
haul case.

Attorney General Alam said an accused in a criminal case could initially deny 
the facts.

"They may admit to the crime later and plead for commuting the death penalty," 
he added.

So far, the top court has resolved 7 appeals by 5 Jamaat leaders and 2 from the 
BNP.

4 of the convicts have been executed while another has been given life 
imprisonment. 2 others have died during the hearings.

But not one of them admitted to their crimes at the hearings.

"This is the 1st time, regarding Jamaat (leaders') cases, I have seen the 
defence lawyers giving a clear statement admitting to the crimes," the attorney 
general said.

Wednesday was the 9th day of the hearing when Nizami's lawyers concluded their 
arguments. The attorney general will resume his arguments on Dec 7.

But Nizami's lawyers claim the prosecution has failed to prove the charges 
against their client.

In his reaction to the attorney general's comments, defence counsel Khandker 
Mahbub, who is an advisor to BNP chief Khaleda Zia, said, "From what I've heard 
on TV, the comments by the attorney general are irresponsible and are a result 
of his ignorance of criminal law."

"At the end of the hearing, we told the court that if it thinks any of the 
charges against him (Nizami) have been proven, he is eligible for lighter 
punishment given his age and health," he added.

(source: bdnews24.com)

*****************

It was a criminal conspiracy ---- Observe judges in full verdict of the SC on 
killing of 4 national leaders in jail in 1975


The Supreme Court has said the assassination of the 4 national leaders was the 
result of a criminal conspiracy.

The apex court came up with the observation in its full judgement that was 
released last night, more than 31 months after the SC upheld the death penalty 
of 3 former army personnel and life term imprisonment of 8 others awarded by a 
lower court in 2004.

The national leaders -- Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmad, AHM Quamruzzaman and 
Captain Mansur Alli -- were brutally killed inside the Dhaka Central Jail on 
November 3, 1975.

A 6-member Appellate Division bench led by the then chief justice Md Muzammel 
Hossain upheld the judgment on April 30, 2013. Other judges of the bench are: 
Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha who now is the chief justice, Justice Md Abdul 
Wahhab Miah, Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and 
Justice Muhammad Imman Ali.

The death row convicts are Risalder (retd) Muslemuddin, Dafadar (dismissed) 
Marfat Ali Shah and Dafadar (dismissed) Abdul Hashem Mridha.

Those who got life imprisonment are Lt Col (dismissed) Khondaker Abdur Rashid, 
Lt Col (relieved) Shariful Haq Dalim, Lt Col (retd) SHMB Noor Chowdhury, Lt Col 
(retd) AM Rashed Chowdhury, Maj (relieved) Ahmed Shariful Hossain, Capt (retd) 
Abdul Majed, Capt (relieved) Kismat Hasem and Capt (relieved) Nazmul Hossain.

All the convicts are on the run.

The full judgment was written by Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana and it was agreed 
by the then chief justiuce and 3 other judges.

Though Justice Sinha endorsed her view that the accused hatched a conspiracy to 
kill the Awami League leaders, he gave different opinion on some part of the 
verdict.

He wrote, "There are uncontroverted evidence on record in support of the 
prosecution case that the killing squad came from the Bangabhaban and after 
executing the killing, they returned back again to Bangabhaban, a judge of the 
apex court said in his part of the judgment."

"The accused persons couldn't have implemented the killing unless very high 
handed powerful State machineries were involved in the conspiracy," Justice 
Sinha said.

Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana, in the judgment wrote, "In this present case, from 
the evidence narrated above, we, in agreement with the learned Counsel for the 
State-appellant, find that there are sufficient evidence to prove that there 
was a criminal conspiracy to kill the 4 leaders inside jail."

The evidence provided by the first, the second, the third and the seventeenth 
prosecution witnesses, whom the court found trustworthy, have proved 
sufficiently that before the accused -- Risalder Muslem Uddin and others 
assailants -- came to the jail, several telephone calls from Major Rashid and 
others from Bangabhaban were made to the inspector general (prisons), the 
judgment says.

Rashid informed the IG (prisons) over telephone that Muslem Uddin would go to 
the jail and told the IG to allow him to talk to the four leaders. Rashid also 
later inquired if Muslem had reached the jail, it reads.

After Muslem and his accomplices arrived at the jail, Rashid and the then 
president Khandaker Moshtaque Ahmed -- being informed by the IG that Muslem 
Uddin wanted to kill the four leaders -- told the IG to allow Muslem "to do 
what he wanted to do".

"These evidence ... lead to the only inference that there was a criminal 
conspiracy to kill 4 leaders inside the jail," the verdict observed.

In October 2004, Dhaka Metropolitan Judge's court sentenced the 3 to death and 
handed down life term imprisonment to 12 others.

But, the High Court in August 2008, upheld the capital punishment of 
Muslemuddin but acquitted Marfat and Hashem. It also acquitted four life 
convicts. The HC did not say anything about the 8 others who were given life 
imprisonment by the SC in 2013.

(source: The Daily Star)

****************

War Crimes Trial: Bangladesh At The Crossroads - Analysis


On November 22, 2015, condemned war crimes convicts Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) 
Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed (67) and Bangladesh Nationalist 
Party (BNP) Standing Committee member Salauddin Quader Chowdhury (66) were 
hanged simultaneously at Dhaka Central Jail at 12:55 am after the President, 
Abdul Hamid, on November 21 rejected their applications seeking Presidential 
clemency as they lost all legal battles against their death sentences on charge 
of crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War of 1971.

In fact, the International Crime Tribunal-2 (ICT-2) on July 17, 2013, had 
sentenced Mojaheed who was arrested on June 29, 2010, and was indicted on June 
21, 2012, to death after finding him guilty on 5 of 7 charges against him. He 
filed an appeal with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) on August 
12, 2013. However, the Appellate Division on June 16, 2015, upheld the death 
sentence for Mojaheed. Similarly, on October 1, 2013, ICT-1 sentenced Salauddin 
who was arrested on December 16, 2010, and was indicted on April 4, 2012, to 
death finding him guilty on nine of 23 charges. He lodged appeal with the 
Appellate Division on October 29, 2013, and the Appellate Division in its 
verdict on July 29, 2015, upheld the death sentence for him.

Remarkably, the Appellate Division on September 30, 2015, released its full 
verdicts upholding the death penalty of Mojaheed and Salauddin, leaving them 
with the option of seeking review of the verdicts. Expectedly, both Mojaheed 
and Salauddin filed their respective review pleas on October 14. Again, the 
Appellate Division after all the 4 judges including Chief Justice Surendra 
Kumar Sinha, Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and 
Justice Hasan Foyez Siddique signed on November 18 dismissed their review 
petitions, leaving only the President mercy as last resort of the 2 condemned 
war criminals to avoid execution. As expected, on November 21, Mojaheed and 
Salauddin submitted their separate mercy petitions to the President. On the 
same day, their pleas were rejected by the President.

Certainly, Salauddin and Mojaheed were the two most high-profile war crimes 
convicts who walked to the gallows. Salauddin is the 1st BNP leader to have 
walked to the gallows for war atrocities. He was the Parliamentary Affairs 
Adviser to the then Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, enjoying the rank of a 
Cabinet Minister. Earlier, he was Minister of Health during the Hussein 
Muhammad Ershad's regime. Meanwhile, Mojaheed was Minister of Social Welfare of 
the then BNP-led coalition Government between 2001 and 2006. He is the 3rd JeI 
leader to have died for war crimes, after JeI Assistant Secretary Abdul Quader 
Mollah (65), who earned the nickname 'Mirpurer Koshai (Butcher of Mirpur)' was 
hanged at Dhaka Central Jail on December 12, 2013 and JeI Senior Assistant 
Secretary General Muhammad Kamaruzzaman (63), the 3rd most senior figure in the 
JeI, was hanged at Dhaka Central Jail on April 11, 2015.

Thus far, the War Crimes (WC) Trials, which began on March 25, 2010, have 
indicted 44 leaders, including 27 from JeI, 6 from the Muslim League (ML), 5 
from Nezam-e-Islami (NeI), four from BNP and 2 from the Jatiya Party (JP). 
Verdicts had been delivered against 24 accused, including 17 death penalties 
and 7 life sentences. Each judgment resulted in violence unleashed by 
fundamentalists, led by the BNP, JeI and its student wing Islami Chattra Shibir 
(ICS) combine. According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism 
Portal (SATP), the country has recorded at least 481 Islamist extremist 
violence-related fatalities since March 25, 2010, including 267 civilians, 29 
Security Force (SF) personnel and 185 extremists (data till November 26, 2015).

Expectedly, protesting the SC verdict of November 18, JeI called a countrywide 
dawn-to-dusk hartal (general strike) for November 19. Soon after the SC handed 
down the verdict, Makbul Ahmed, acting ameer (chief) of JeI, at a press 
statement said "The government has made a farce in the name of justice by 
filing false and fabricated cases against party leaders to make the party 
devoid of leadership. Mujahid is a victim of government's conspiracy." But, the 
countrywide hartal, unlike the previous hartals called by JeI protesting at the 
war crimes verdicts against the party leaders, was ignored largely across the 
country on November 19 without any violence. Again, protesting Mojaheed's 
hanging on November 22, JeI called another countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal for 
November 23. The daylong hartal concluded with almost no response from people.

Meanwhile, the BNP, not paying much heed to the trial and execution of its 
leader Salauddin did not consider any protest programme. Surprisingly, BNP 
Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia at a high-level party meeting on November 25, 
2015, did not allow her party colleagues to discuss Salauddin Quader 
Chowdhury's execution. After the meeting, Jamiruddin Sircar, a Standing 
Committee member of the party said "The issue of Salauddin's execution was 
raised at the meeting. Madam [Khaleda Zia] offered her condolence at his death. 
There was no more discussion on it as it was not on the agenda. We now want to 
make it clear that we are not in favour of war criminals. By not discussing 
Salauddin, she has saved her party from the accusation of patronizing war 
criminals." Earlier, on November 19, 2015, when a correspondent of Prothom Alo 
(First Light), a major daily newspaper published from Dhaka city in the Bengali 
language, contacted 7 BNP leaders, including 3 members of its Standing 
Committee members, a Standing Committee member, preferring anonymity, said 
"Salauddin Quader's execution will have no impact on BNP. The party is not also 
discussing this much."

In the meantime, on November 22, 2015, different political parties and 
organizations hailed the execution of Salauddin and Mojaheed. Hailing the 
execution of the convicts, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) in a statement 
demanded a ban on the politics of JeI and ICS to root out extremism from the 
country forever. Similarly, demanding immediate execution of the all other war 
crime convicts, Bangladesh Chhatra Federation (BCF), the student front of 
Ganasanghati Andolon, another left leaning political party, in a statement 
expressed their satisfaction over the verdict and said it was a reflection of 
people's expectations. Sammilita Sangskritik Jote, a cultural organization, in 
a statement also expressed satisfaction over the execution of condemned war 
crimes convicts. In the same way, Gonojagoron Mancha (People's Resurgence 
Platform), a youth platform seeking death sentence for all war criminals brings 
out a procession at Shahbagh in the capital Dhaka city.

Further, calling for confiscation of all the properties of the convicted war 
criminals and distribution of the wealth among the families of insolvent 
freedom fighters and rape victims of the 1971 Liberation War, Shahriar Kabir, 
Acting president of Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, an anti-war crimes 
platform on November 26 said "The properties of Jamaat-e-Islami including its 
business firms, factories, NGOs, and educational and social institutions should 
come under the government's control. These institutions have to give 
compensation as well.

Separately, criticizing former Presidents Ziaur Rahman and HM Ershad, and BNP 
Chairperson Khaleda for rehabilitating those involved in war crimes in 1971, 
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed on November 23, 2015, said "Ziaur Rahman did 
not try the war criminals. We tried and executed the war criminals. I think 
through the trial and execution of the war criminals the victims' family 
members will at least get some consolation. If we cannot end the trial of war 
criminals, the nation will never be freed from curse."

Indeed, the implementation of the verdicts of the War Crimes Trials in each 
case, as it was on November 22, is a step towards the long sought-after 
justice, a step towards establishment of a society under law, accountability 
and democracy. Moreover, the trial, judgment and verdict is a lesson to all 
that crimes committed against humanity will not go unpunished whoever the 
perpetrators may be, and that the law will catch up with them eventually. 
Nevertheless, the significant support base of the radical Islamist formations 
in the country, as well as of the BNP which allies with them, retains the 
potential to cause extreme harm within the country, and it will require both an 
iron will and political sagacity to carry the War Crimes Trials process to its 
logical conclusion.

(source: S. Binodkumar Singh is a Research Associate at the Institute for 
Conflict Management, New Delhi----eurasiareview.com)






CHINA:

Reforming China's Flawed Organ Transplant System


Renowned liver surgeon Huang Jiefu has spent more than a decade advocating 
change for a health care service he considers dangerously opaque and seriously 
flawed: China's system for transplanting human organs.

In a sense, Huang's effort as an advocate for change and his work as an 
esteemed doctor paid off on Nov. 23, when he received a prominent international 
award.

Huang was awarded a Gusi Peace Prize by a charity based in Manila, Philippines, 
for working toward reforming the system through which patients receive 
lifesaving organ transplants in China. He earned the honor for contributions 
made while serving as the deputy minister of health from 2001 to 2013, for 
spearheading the government's recent decision to stop harvesting organs from 
executed prisoners, and for his current work as director of the National Organ 
Transplantation Committee.

Huang appreciates the recognition but says his job is far from finished.

He calls the arrangement through which donor organs are harvested and implanted 
in patients underdeveloped. It's a system weakened by inadequate legal support 
and hobbled by communication gaps among the professionals in charge.

Moreover, he says reforms are needed to make organs more readily available to 
the general population of patients and encourage more doctors to become 
transplant surgeons.

The country's transplant system is managed and directed by three groups: the 
National Health and Family Planning Commission, the nation's hospitals, and the 
government-affiliated Red Cross Society. For many years, bureaucrats, hospital 
administrators, and judges worked with doctors around the country to arrange 
transplant donors and patients.

Ending in January the decadeslong practice whereby patients received organs 
from executed inmates was just one step in an effort to reform the 
transplant-related legal system, Huang said. In the future, he wants legal 
decisions involving transplants to be handled with more transparency.

"The judicial system is a last line of defense for maintaining a fair and just 
society," he said. "Unless the judicial procedure is transparent, there will be 
no basis for social justice."

That organs are often bought and sold privately is another major shortcoming on 
the list of practices that Huang would like to change. The opaque process for 
procuring organs has encouraged some doctors to compete for them or access to 
donors.

"Some hospitals and surgeons have gotten organs by using their inside 
connections with judges" to arrange shady deals, said Huang.

Huang has been tapping the power of his profession to battle for change. He's 
also benefited from the respect he earned as the surgeon who performed the 
country's 1st successful liver transplant in 1994.

Huang campaigned for organ donation standards in cases in which the donor has 
been declared brain dead or has suffered a fatal heart attack. These standards 
are designed "to determine death more scientifically," he said.

He also conducted research into donation standards that won him support from 
the international medical community. The report based on this research was 
published by the leading academic journals Lancet and Transplantation.

Furthermore, Huang has asked officials, educators, and even public security 
officers to help the medical community regulate organ transplant practices. 
Such multilevel support gave everyone involved in the process a good reason to 
"operate in the sunshine" instead of the shadows, he said.

"Within a few years, I'd like to see China become the country with the world's 
largest transplantation service, without any controversy," Huang said.

Since the decision to bar inmate organs, the country has seen organ donations 
soar. The number of organs transplanted from dead patients climbed in the 
months since the ban took effect. Between January and July, organ donations 
totaled 1,479, compared with 1,700 for all of 2014, said Huang.

He expected the total number of donations to pass 2,500 this year, making China 
the Asian country with the most after-death organ transplants.

However, the inmate organ ban did not come easily. Years of debate preceded the 
NOTC's so-called Hangzhou Resolution in 2013, which urged the end of organ 
harvesting from executed prisoners. That resolution, signed by the health 
commission and the NOTC, set the stage for changes to organ harvesting 
practices.

For years, the international medical community pressured the country to adopt a 
voluntary donation system, and China was denied membership in international 
transplant organizations due to its reliance on inmates. The medical community 
also refused to recognize any transplant-related research by Chinese 
physicians.

Huang joined the international chorus in 2005, while serving as deputy ministry 
of health, to become the 1st member of the Chinese medical establishment to 
call for change. At a World Health Organization conference in Manila, he said: 
"China needs to reform its organ transplant system through legislation and stop 
relying on prisoners as sources of procurement."

Soon after that bold statement, the health ministry cut the number of hospitals 
licensed for organ transplants to 164 from 600. And in 2007, the government 
issued the 1st transplant regulation, stipulating that all organs must come 
from voluntary donors.

Before 2009, Huang said, 65 % of all transplanted organs came from dead inmates 
while the rest were obtained through voluntary donations. Most donors were 
friends and relatives of recipients.

Further efforts to improve harvesting practices came with judicial reforms in 
2011, when authorities strengthened death penalty reviews and declared human 
organ trading a crime. In 2013, the health commission ordered all hospitals to 
stop working directly with courts when there's a need for organs. The 
commission also updated rules for organ harvesting.

In December 2014, at a conference sponsored by the health commission, Huang as 
head of NOTC formally requested that all hospitals eliminate inmate organ 
harvesting. He said voluntary donations should be the only legal basis for 
transplants. A month later, he got his wish.

The change "marks progress for China's legal system and human rights 
protection," Huang said in March at a press conference.

Huang was thus instrumental in China's successful bid to join the International 
Society for Organ Donation and Procurement Congress during a Seoul, South 
Korea, conference in October. After that achievement, he proudly wrote in his 
blog about "the tough 10-year journey" for reform advocates like him that ended 
with "the Chinese flag flying on the international organ donation stage."

The decision to honor Huang has been applauded by his peers at home and aboard. 
Jose R. Nunes, a WHO transplant specialist, said the warm congratulations sent 
to Huang from the international medical community reflected recognition of how 
significantly the organ transplant system in China has improved in recent 
years.

Still, Huang says there's much more work to be done.

"China's organ donation and transplant system is still fragile and fledgling," 
he said. "Only through efforts made by the entire society will it grow."

(source: slate.com)