Fan Weiqiu Sentenced to Death for Car Attack

Fan Weiqiu, a 62-year-old man, has been sentenced to death for deliberately driving his SUV into a crowd of people exercising outside a sports complex in Zhuhai, Guangdong, resulting in 35 fatalities and 43 injuries. The attack, which occurred on November 11, is the deadliest in China in a decade and has raised significant concerns regarding public safety. The court described Fan's motivations, stemming from anger over his divorce and the division of property, as 'extremely vile' and his actions as 'particularly cruel.' Following the incident, Fan inflicted knife wounds on himself and was found in a coma at the scene. The authorities faced criticism for the delayed acknowledgment of the casualties and for censoring information about the attack. Analysts attribute the increase in such violent incidents to growing societal frustrations amid a slowing economy.