SYDNEY, April 29 (UPI) -- A group of Australians is seeking revocation of an honorary academic title for a Chinese doctor who endorses harvesting organs from executed prisoners.
Dr. Huang Jiefu, educated at the University of Sydney, served as China's vice minister of health and oversaw the harvesting of organs from prisoners about to be executed. The process is widely condemned by the medical community, the United Nations and the World Health Organization.
Prisoners are said to decide whether or not they want to donate their organs but officials questioned whether they're forced to do so, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. said Monday.
The process Huang said he oversaw the program as recently as 2012. It involves anesthetizing the prisoner and removing the relevant organs, including the liver, kidneys and eyes, before the lethal injection is completed.
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"Very different to killing someone as quickly and humanely as possible. It's done in such a way that actually allows this very, very unsavory mix of execution and medical care and treatment to be done by the same team of doctors. It's horrific really," said University of Sydney medical professor Maria Fiatarone Singh.
Singh is leading a group of doctors and academics, calling on the University of Sydney to revoke an honorary professorship extended to Huang for the last 12 years. The honor was recently extended for three years.
Human rights groups estimate China executes about 4,000 people per year, the most of any country in the world.
Upwards of 90 percent of organ transplant procedures involve organs taken from prisoners about to be executed, officials said.
