China executes two men who carried out deadly attacks known as ‘revenge for societal crimes’

BEIJING — China executed two men who carried out deadly attacks that left dozens dead in November, raising concerns about a surge in so-called “revenge against societal crimes,” reports said. state media on Monday.

Fan Weiqu, 62, who drove his car into a crowd in front of a sports stadium in the southern city of Zhuhai, killing at least 35 people, was executed on Monday. According to authorities, this is the deadliest attack the country has seen in more than a decade. Police said Fan was upset about his divorce settlement.

Also in November, Xu Jiajin, 21, killed eight people and injured 17 others in a knife attack at his vocational school in Wuxi, in the east of the country. Police said Wu failed his exams and could not graduate, and was unhappy with his salary for an internship. He was also executed on Monday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

The killings prompted Chinese President Xi Jinping to urge local governments to take measures to prevent such attacks, known as ” revenge against the crimes of society.”

The two men’s death sentences were handed down by the intermediate people’s courts in Zhuhai and Wuxi cities respectively in December and approved by the Supreme People’s Court, according to state media.

China is believed to execute more prisoners each year than the rest of the world combined, although the precise total is classified as a state secret. Executions are traditionally carried out by shooting, although lethal injections have also been introduced in recent years.