Chinese court executes man who set ex-wife on fire

A Chinese man convicted of killing his former wife by setting her on fire was executed in southwestern Sichuan province on Saturday in a domestic violence case that had drawn national outrage.

Tang Lu set his ex-wife on fire in September 2020 while she was livestreaming on Douyin, the short video platform. The 30-year-old woman, known online as Lamu, died of her injuries a few weeks later.

The Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture Intermediate People’s Court said in a short statement that it had carried out Tang’s execution early on Saturday.

Lamu had offered a glimpse into her life in short videos and livestreams on the Chinese version of TikTok run by the same parent company.

In her videos, she showed off the Sichuan countryside and blogged about her life. She was ethnically Tibetan and often wore traditional Tibetan clothing in the videos.

Lamu’s sister had told the Paper, an official media outlet based in Shanghai, that her sister suffered domestic abuse at Tang’s hands for years and decided to divorce him as a result.

The case drew widespread condemnation and outrage across the country over the plight women face in abusive marriages. Police took the man into custody a few days after news of the attack spread. Tang had appealed his death sentence but lost in January.