A US citizen was sentenced to death in China on Thursday for stabbing his 21yearold Chinese exgirlfriend. The number of executions per year is a state secret in the country that uses the death penalty. But sentencing Westerners to the maximum penalty is rare.
The defendant, Shadeed Abdulmateen, met the victim in 2019 and began a romantic relationship with the young woman, according to a statement from the Intermediate People’s Court of Ningbo in the east of the country where the crime took place. In May 2021, the Chinese woman announced her intention to break up with the American, but he did not accept the end of the relationship and made “verbal threats” to her friend, the text continues.
The following month, Abdulmateen arranged to meet her at a bus stop and afterwards stabbed the victim in the neck and face with a knife, which did not survive.
“The defendant was sentenced to death for premeditated manslaughter,” the court said, calling for “premeditated revenge.”
“The motives were dirty. His criminal intent confirmed. The method used is cruel and the circumstances of the crime heinous,” the statement said.
Last western run 2009
The US embassy in the country, contacted by the AFP agency, did not comment on the case. The official Xinhua Press Agency states that the last execution of a westerner took place in 2009. Britain’s Akmal Shaikh has been sentenced to death for heroin trafficking.
In 2015, China reduced the number of crimes punishable by death from 55 to 46. The list includes separatism, premeditated homicide, rape and drug trafficking, but incitement to prostitution and arms smuggling were excluded.