In China, the driver of a ramming attack that resulted in 35 deaths was put to death.

The Execution of Fan Weiqiu

China executed Fan Weiqiu on Monday, January 20th, the perpetrator of a ramming attack that killed 35 people in Zhuhai, a city in the southern province of Guangdong. According to state television CCTV, this was the deadliest attack in China in the past decade. Fan Weiqiu deliberately drove his SUV into a group of people exercising outside a sports complex in Zhuhai on November 11th, resulting in the death of 35 individuals and injuring 43 others.

Motives and Sentencing

Fan Weiqiu, a 62-year-old man, was sentenced to death by a Zhuhai court at the end of December for his particularly cruel and abhorrent actions. Reports indicate that his motivations stemmed from personal frustration, including a broken marriage, personal grievances, and discontent over property division after divorce.

Broader Context

This incident is part of a series of deadly acts committed by isolated individuals in China this year, which some experts attribute to frustrations arising from the slowing Chinese economy. In response to these incidents, authorities swiftly censored online content and removed tributes near the scene of the tragedies. In a separate case at the end of December, a man who drove into a crowd outside a school received a suspended death sentence, with the court citing emotional release due to personal setbacks like financial losses from investments and family conflicts.

Human Rights Concerns

China’s official figures on the death penalty are classified as a state secret. However, human rights advocacy groups such as Amnesty International estimate that thousands of executions occur annually in the country. The enforcement of capital punishment in China remains a topic of scrutiny and debate among international organizations.