An American citizen from Los Angeles, teacher Shadeed Abdulmateen, has been sentenced to death by a court in China for killing a 21-year-old Chinese woman, who was his girlfriend.
He reportedly stabbed his Chinese girlfriend to death – identified only as Chen, her family name – after she decided to break up with him.
English Teacher Commits ‘Revenge Killing’
Abdulmateen’s sentence was pronounced by a court in the city of Ningbo, the coastal province of Zhejiang. It happened earlier this week, as the American was sentenced for committing “international homicide.”
Abdulmateen has been working as an English language teacher at the Ningbo University of Technology.
He reportedly lied to Chen that he was divorced, after meeting her back in 2019, Breitbart News reported, citing the English-language newspaper, The Global Times.
This is otherwise known as a tabloid mouthpiece of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. According to a cited court statement, Chen first tried to break up with Abdulmateen back in May 2021, but he “verbally intimidated her”.
On June 14, 2021, Abdulmateen arranged a meeting with Chen at a bus stop in Ningbo around 8 pm in the evening.
The murder was perpetrated about two hours later, as he stabbed his girlfriend in the neck and face several times. According to the prosecution, he did it with a folding knife which he brought with him with the deliberate intention of murdering the 21-year-old woman.
Chen was found dead at the scene after suffering a hemorrhage. Abdulmateen has been found guilty of committing a “premeditated revenge killing.”
Chinese court sentences U.S. citizen to death for murder. China’s death sentence is executed using firing squad.
The US department of state has refused to comment on the matter as of now. pic.twitter.com/Ieq2tPgaJt
— Mathias Ssemanda (@MathiasSsemanda) April 22, 2022
Murder Sparks Tremendous Local Outrage
The court found the crime circumstances and consequences to be “particularly bad and serious,” as per a translation of the verdict.
There are reports the Chinese police were quite slow in responding to the report of the murder since Abdulmateen is a foreigner. This caused the crime to spark even greater outrage in the local community.
As per Chinese law, foreigners face the same punishments as Chinese citizens, unless the former happen to have diplomatic exemptions or privileges.
Abdulmateen reportedly received defense services, translation, and consular visits, while more than 20 attended his trial, including both members of the Chinese public and government officials.
A spokesperson for the US Embassy in Beijing is quoted as saying the Embassy has been monitoring Abdulmateen’s situation and is aware of his death sentence.
However, the spokesperson refused to provide further information for privacy reasons. It is noted most cases of foreigners sentenced to death in China are for drug-related crimes.
There is no precise information about how many death sentences are executed in Communist China every year. The number is a state secret, but the country is believed to be among the world’s “leaders” in that regard.
Back in 2020, there were about 500 death sentences carried out in a total of 18 different countries.
Shadeed Abdulmateen is said to have arranged a meeting with his former lover at a bus stop, where he stabbed her with what is described as a “folding knife"https://t.co/PdBDgKTFl2
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) April 22, 2022
Death Sentence for American living in Chinahttps://t.co/HkJQQxqVN6#China #crime #execution #relationships pic.twitter.com/ODaGH0Dcik
— 找道了 (@TheWayvy) April 23, 2022
