Man sentenced to 8 years in prison for Shanghai airport blast

A man found guilty of setting off a homemade bomb at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport last June has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

According to a verdict announced by the Shanghai No.3 Intermediate People’s Court on Friday, Zhou Xingbai was also deprived of his political rights for two years.

Zhou set off a homemade explosive device at a check-in counter at 2:26 p.m. on June 12, 2016. Four people, including a Philippine national, suffered minor injuries. A number of flights were cancelled or delayed due to the incident.

Zhou also cut his own throat with a knife at the airport but was taken to hospital for medical treatment.

The 29-year-old from southwest China’s Guizhou Province became a migrant worker in 2006 after finishing middle school.

He has allegedly been addicted to online gambling since 2014, squandering his savings and living in heavy debt. On his WeChat account, he wrote that he owed many people money and was going to do something “very crazy.”

Zhou has no mental illness and should take full criminal responsibility for his actions, according to the Institute of Forensic Science under the Ministry of Justice.