Saudi beheaded for murder
2007-10-28 14:00
Riyadh - A Saudi was beheaded by the sword on Sunday after being convicted of murdering a compatriot, the interior ministry said.
Ahmed al-Issa was executed in the southwestern Asir region for shooting dead Fay'a al-Shadidi following an argument, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.
His execution took to 130 the number of people put to death by Saudi Arabia this year, outstripping the previous record of 113 during all of 2000.
Last year 37 people were beheaded.
Executions are usually carried out in public in ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia, which applies a strict form of sharia, or Islamic law.
Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking can all carry the death penalty.
- AFP