A Nobel Nominees Battle With Silence: Beijings Shadow Follows Organ Harvesting Investigator Down Under

David Matas, the foremost researcher into organ harvesting in China, does not visit frequently, but each time, he’s been the target of foreign interference—including death threats and a drive-by shooting—aimed at stopping him from presenting his work to Australians.The Canadian human rights lawyer and member of the Order of Canada, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010.Alongside the late Canadian cabinet minister David Kilgour, he released the first major investigative report into the Chinese Communist Party’s forced organ harvesting of practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline and meditation practice that has endured a 25-year brutal persecution.Transplant Ethics Presentation Timing Chopped and ChangedLast month, Matas put in an abstract to be part of the Australian Transplant Nurses Association annual conference to be held in Brisbane on Oct. 23-24.The abstract was first accepted for a “poster presentation” on the sidelines of the conference, and then upgraded to a full speaking slot (for 20 minutes) on the main stage.However, this offer was later rescinded with an email to Matas from the Association saying that because other poster presenters were not given their own time slots, the organisers needed to follow their guidelines to be “fair and equal.”Human rights lawyer David Matas in front of the Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on Oct. 28, 2025. Wang Nan/NTDInstead, he would deliver the poster presentation as originally decided, which involves setting up a display (with a poster summarising his research) in the area around the main conference for attendees to interact and ask questions.Four presentations were held during the lunch hours on Oct. 23, and two on Oct. 24.Matas was further asked to provide the material for his poster presentation “to be reviewed” prior to the event to ensure they complied with “inclusion guidelines.”Matas asked for a link to the inclusion guidelines, and did not receive a reply.He went ahead and prepared a poster and emailed it to the organisers, asking if anything needs to be changed, and again did not receive a reply.When Matas arrived in Brisbane, he finally received a reply permitting him to present his poster, but was reminded not to distribute any additional material or bring personnel.“The only hand outs permitted are a copy of the poster—absolutely nothing else can be distributed,” stated the email, shared with The Epoch Times.“We do not permit anyone using our national education conference for political grandstanding—this will not be tolerated.”Matas, who has presented at conferences before, said he had never distributed materials or engaged in “political grandstanding.”“These warnings were not based on my past behaviour,” Matas told a parliamentary roundtable in Canberra on Oct. 28, in remarks seen by The Epoch Times.Matas asked five other presenters if they had received any request from the organisers to send their posters in advance, and if they had received instructions or advice about what should not be said during the presentations.All five said they received no such communication.“It was apparent that the justification the organisers gave for withdrawing my speaker invitation, that all poster presenters had to be treated alike, was false. I was being treated differently,” he said.“The withdrawal of the speaker invitation had some other undisclosed explanation.”The Epoch Times contacted the Australian Transplant Nurses Association for a response but no reply was received. Drive-by Shootings, Sudden Venue Cancellations, Death ThreatsThe lawyer’s visits Down Under regularly meets with challenges.In 2008, Matas was scheduled to speak at Bond University in Gold Coast.Less than a week before the event, the organisers received an email informing them that the venue was no longer available. When the vice chancellor was contacted by phone, he stated that he was not concerned with the content of the speech and that the decision was final.Later after the event was relocated, an online participant asked Matas during the Q&A:“Are you afraid of death? You are brutally interfering in our Party’s internal policies. Are you afraid of our revenge?”Matas says the man was a CCP police official.In 2010, during another trip to Brisbane, The Epoch Times’ Chinese edition was set to host a panel discussion with Matas, however, in the lead up to the event, the newspaper’s office became the target of a drive-by shooting with an air rifle.A hole pierced by a gunshot in the front window of The Epoch Times office in Sunnybank, Brisbane, Australia, on Oct. 28, 2010. Shan Ju Lin/The Epoch TimesIn 2018, a venue booked to screen a documentary on CCP-controlled Confucius Institutes at Victoria University in Melbourne was withdrawn 10 days before the event.Later upon inspection, the university venue was found to be empty at the time of the event.An ‘Accumulation of Incidents’ Over Many YearsMatas’ challenges come amid ongoing concern with CCP-instigated transnational repression, a more “aggressive form” of foreign interference aimed at influencing overseas political systems to gain control over dissidents, faith groups, or human rights advocates in countries like Australia.“If today the CCP can suppress Falun Gong practitioners, tomorrow they can target any group or individual they dislike,” said Lucy Zhao, the president of the Falun Dafa Association of Australia, in an interview with NTD TV.“This would threaten the fundamental values and freedoms of this free country … We hope that the Australian government and lawmakers will take timely action to stop the CCP’s transnational repression in Australia as soon as possible.”Falun Dafa practitioners holding banners raising awareness about forced organ harvesting and bringing Jiang Zemin to justice, in Melbourne, Australia on 14 July 2018. Daniel Cameron/NTDMatas noted that the CCP has a number of tools for transnational repression.“A lot of transnational oppression is criminal in some form or another. It could be threats, it could be harassment, it could be intimidation,” he said.“They’re trying to leverage their [Chinese] diaspora communities to do that … They also leverage the relationships with the home countries or threaten the relatives back in the home country, over which they have total control.“But if it’s not identified as transnational oppression, the authorities tend to … overlook it because it doesn’t seem that serious. They don’t realise the context. They don’t realise the accumulation of incidents.”The human rights lawyer suggested Australian government hold an inquiry.“The appreciation of the prevalence of transnational repression, the harm of transnational repression and development is the tool to deal with it,” he said.In response, the Australian Department of Home Affairs said it would not comment on individual cases.“Foreign interference and espionage threaten the things we value most about our country—our social cohesion, our trusted democracy, and our freedom of thought and expression,” a spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.“The Australian government and our security agencies continuously work to protect Australians and our way of life, including taking swift and appropriate action to defend against foreign interference.“Australia’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies assess, investigate, disrupt and where possible, prosecute acts of foreign interference.” NTD reporter Philippe Wang contributed to this report.