A Chinese court has sentenced a US citizen to death for the alleged murder of a former girlfriend.
On Thursday, Shadeed Abdulmateen was charged with the intentional homicide of a 21-year-old Chinese woman with the surname Chen.
Abdulmateen was a teacher at Ningbo University of Technology and has been convicted of fatally stabbing Chen.
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According to state broadcaster CCTV, the court held that Abdulmateen’s ‘premeditated revenge killing, stabbing and cutting Chen's face and neck several times, resulting in Chen's death, was motivated by vile motives, resolute intent and cruel means, and the circumstances of the crime were particularly bad and the consequences particularly serious, and should be punished according to law’.
The Ningbo Intermediate People's Court in Zhejiang Province found that defendant Abdulmateen killed Chen with a folding knife.
The pair arranged to meet up and talk following their break-up in June 2019 before Abdulmateen launched his alleged attack.
According to Yahoo! News, a US State Department official said the situation was being monitored but refused to comment further in the interest of privacy.
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In a 2020 review conducted by Amnesty International, China was found to be the world’s top executioner, but the country doesn’t disclose execution numbers.
The review, titled Death Sentences and Executions in 2020, used information including official figures, judgements and media reports alongside information from families and civil societies in its findings.
Agnes Callamard, the secretary-general of Amnesty International, said in a statement at the time: “As the world focused on finding ways to protect lives from COVID-19, several governments showed a disturbing determination to resort to the death penalty and execute people no matter what.
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“The death penalty is an abhorrent punishment and pursuing executions in the middle of a pandemic further highlights its inherent cruelty.”
People from Uganda, South Korea, Japan and Kenya have received death sentences in China for drug crimes over the past decade, as per CNN.
The outlet adds that in 2016, the Nigerian senate was informed that 120 citizens were on China’s death row.
China’s court system boasts conviction rates of approximately 99%, and successful appeals are rare.
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Methods of execution include firing squads, lethal injections and mobile death vans, in which a prisoner is strapped to a stretcher and executed by injection once inside the vehicle.
Mobile death vans are used out of ‘convenience’, as it means the convicted don’t have to be moved to a prison with execution facilities.
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Topics: China, Crime, World News
Aisha Nozari