Yunnan Woman Sprayed with Corrosive Chemical during Fourth Prison Term for Her Faith

(Minghui.org) A Kunming City, Yunnan Province, resident was tortured and sprayed with a corrosive chemical that almost caused her to become disfigured while serving a fourth prison term for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been targeted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999.

Ms. Wang Jinxian, a 67-year-old former employee of Yiliang County Mall, began to practice Falun Gong in 1997. After the persecution began, she was given four prison terms totaling 14 years between 2007 and 2019. She was often arrested and sentenced merely months after being released from a previous term. Her third term came only 44 days after she finished her second term. 

Tortured During Four Prison Terms

Ms. Wang’s first term was four years, from March 23, 2007 to March 22, 2011. Her second term was three years, between April 9, 2012 and April 8, 2015. Her third term (three years) was from May 22, 2015 to May 21, 2018. She was arrested again eight months after the third term and sentenced to another four years, from February 1, 2019 and January 31, 2023. 

While in prison, Ms. Wang endured physical torture, including being forced to sit on a small stool for a long time, being held in solitary confinement, and being repeatedly slapped in the face. She was monitored by inmates and subjected to constant beatings and verbal abuse. In the winter, the guards forced Ms. Wang to hand-copy the prison rules while having the freezing wind blow on her, resulting in her hands developing frostbite. 

The guards barred Ms. Wang from using toilet paper in the restroom or a blanket at night. She wasn’t allowed to get food from the cafeteria herself and she had to finish whatever food the inmates brought her. They sometimes gave her very little food, while other times gave her excessive amounts of food. She’d be punished if she failed to eat everything.

Torture reenactment: sitting on a small stool

During Ms. Wang’s fourth term at the Yunnan Province Second Women’s Prison, because she shouted out condemnation of the persecution, the guards sprayed a corrosive chemical onto her face on many occassions, causing her face to be severely burnt and covered with dark scars.

According to Ms. Wang, before the guards sprayed the chemical, they first closed the window of her cell and ordered the other inmates out. Wearing masks or respirators themselves, the guards sprayed the chemical toward her face. She felt suffocated and unable to breathe. Sometimes the guards sprayed a larger volume, and the chemical quickly spread to other cells through the ventilation system, causing other inmates to cough.

The guards barred Ms. Wang from seeing herself in a mirror after the spray. She once felt fluid oozing from her face. Seeing the severity of her condition, her cellmates reported it to the guards, who then applied gentian violet to her face. Only when big blisters began to appear on her face two days later, did the guards take her to the hospital for treatment. 

A doctor used a syringe to drain the fluid from the blisters and then applied some medicine on them. But it didn’t help. More, bigger blisters continued to form on her face, which eventually began to ooze pus. The doctor consulted with a few other doctors and they recommended inpatient care. When Ms. Wang was discharged nine days later, her face was covered with dark scars. To shirk responsibility, the guards attempted to force her to record a video saying that she caused the injuries herself and that it had nothing to do with them. She refused to comply.

In addition to the physical torture, Ms. Wang was also forced to work without pay along with other inmates. To cover up the illegal practice of forced labor, the prison ordered Ms. Wang and the other inmates to write applications, claiming that they volunteered to work and that they pledged to finish the quota required by the guards. Ms. Wang refused to write the “application” and was forced to sit on a small stool without moving for an entire day.

Related report:

Ms. Wang Jinxian Sentenced to Three Years in Prison after Being Secretly Tried