Riyadh: Saudi Arabia on Thursday beheaded a man
convicted of murder in the kingdom's southwest, the interior
ministry said.
Abulrahman al-Qarni shot dead fellow Saudi Mushabab
al-Khathami during a dispute, said the ministry statement
carried by state news agency SPA.
The man was beheaded in the town of Al-Baha in
southwestern Saudi Arabia, SPA reported.
The beheading brings to six the number of executions
carried out in Saudi Arabia so far in 2012, according to an agecy’s tally based on official reports.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
voiced alarm last month at the almost threefold increase in
executions in Saudi Arabia last year.
Amnesty International said the kingdom executed 79 people
in 2011.
Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty for a wide range
of offences, including rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery
and drug trafficking.
In 2010, 27 people were executed, according to the UN,
citing a report by Human Rights Watch.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, February 02, 2012, 21:32