Saudi beheads two murderers

AFP , Thursday 5 Sep 2013

Two Saudis were beheaded after the were convicted of murders, bringing the number of people who were executed in the Kingdom this year to 65

Saudi authorities beheaded two citizens in Riyadh on Thursday after they were convicted of separate murders, the interior ministry announced.

Hashan al-Nutayfat shot dead fellow citizen Mohammed al-Dosari in a dispute, said the statement published by the official SPA news agency.

Another murderer, Mohammed al-Qahtani, was executed after he stabbed a fellow Saudi to death, SPA reported.

The beheadings bring to 65 the number of people executed in Saudi Arabia so far this year, according to an AFP count.

In 2012, the conservative Muslim kingdom carried out 76 executions, according to a tally based on official figures. Human Rights Watch has put the number at 69.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under the oil-rich Gulf state's strict version of sharia, or Islamic law.

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