Chinese court upholds death sentence for US citizen found guilty of murdering girlfriend
- Shadeed Abdulmateen was found guilty of killing the woman named Chen by a court in Ningbo earlier this year
- The American’s trial heard that he had broken up with the victim and stabbed her to death after arranging to meet at a bus stop in June 2019
Following a trial held in “open session” the High People’s Court of the eastern province of Zhejiang rejected Shadeed Abdulmateen’s appeal, and upheld the original verdict issued by a court in Ningbo this April.
The initial ruling by the lower court held that after a disagreement over the pair’s break-up in June 2019 the defendant arranged to meet with the victim, a woman surnamed Chen, at a bus stop in Ningbo before killing her.
“The High People’s Court of Zhejiang Province … found that the facts found by the Ningbo Intermediate People’s Court were clear, the evidence was true and sufficient, the conviction was accurate, the sentence was appropriate and the trial procedure was lawful, so it made the above ruling,” CCTV reported.
The court has forwarded the case to the Supreme People’s Court for approval, a necessary final step in such cases before the sentence is carried out.
It is extremely rare for the country’s highest court to question such verdicts and ask lower courts to revisit such cases, even though this can be done.
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Amnesty International said in a report earlier this year that it believes China carries out thousands of executions each year but the exact number is a state secret.
The defendant had legal representation appointed by the court and officials from the US consulate general in Shanghai were in court to witness Thursday’s verdict, CCTV said.
When asked for comment a US embassy spokesperson said that they were “aware of a court decision related to a US citizen”.
“We take seriously our responsibility to assist US citizens abroad and are monitoring the situation,” the spokesperson said. “Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment.”
