China has executed a man found guilty of killing at least 35 people in a car attack in November, in what is thought to be the deadliest attack in the country for a decade.
Fan Weiqiu, 62, injured dozens more when he drove his car into people exercising outside a stadium in the southern city of Zhuhai.
State media said a second man was executed for a separate attack that came days later. Xu Jiajin, 21, killed eight people in a stabbing spree at his university in the eastern city of Wuxi.
Authorities said Fan was driven by “dissatisfaction” over how his property had been divided following his divorce, while Xu carried out his attack after “failing to obtain his diploma due to poor exam results”.
In December, he was found guilty of “endangering public safety”, with the Zhuhai Intermediate People’s Court describing his motive as “extremely vile” and the methods used “particularly cruel”.
His execution on Monday comes less than a month after the court sentenced him to death.
In the case of Xu, police said he confessed to his crime “without hesitation” on 16 November. He was sentenced to death on 17 December, with the court hearing that the circumstances of his crime were “particularly bad” and “extremely serious”.
Human rights groups believe China is the world’s leading executioner, killing thousands of people every year. The country does not release details about its use of the death penalty, so reliable numbers are unavailable.