Jan Jekielek: Inside China’s “Kill to Order” Organ Harvesting Industry

Live from FreedomFest, Liberty RoundTable host Sam Bushman sits down with Jan Jekielek, senior editor at The Epoch Times and host of American Thought Leaders, for a conversation about journalism, communist China, religious persecution, and allegations of forced organ harvesting.

Jekielek discusses his work investigating the Chinese Communist Party and his book Killed to Order, which examines evidence and allegations that prisoners of conscience have been used as involuntary organ donors in China. He describes how persecution and dehumanization can create populations vulnerable to abuse, with the conversation focusing heavily on Falun Gong practitioners and concerns about other persecuted groups.

The discussion moves beyond documenting the allegations to the question of what ordinary people can actually do. Jekielek points to grassroots education, advocacy organizations, and proposed U.S. legislation aimed at sanctioning individuals involved in forced organ harvesting and increasing government reporting on the practice.

Bushman and Jekielek also explore the relationship between faith and individual freedom, growing pressure on Christians in China, and why totalitarian governments may view independent religious belief as a challenge to state authority. They close by discussing Jekielek’s work at The Epoch Times and his commitment to what he describes as truth-seeking journalism in an increasingly divided media landscape.