Riyadh Beheads Syrian for Drug Smuggling
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Syrian on Tuesday for drug smuggling, the interior ministry announced in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.
Abdulrahman al-Sweidan was "arrested as he was attempting to smuggle large quantities of narcotic pills into the kingdom," SPA reported.
He was beheaded by sword in the northern region of Jawf.
That brings to 61 the number of people executed in Saudi Arabia so far this year, according to an Agence France Presse tally based on official reports.
Amnesty International says 79 people were put to death in the Gulf kingdom last year.
Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under its strict version of sharia, or Islamic law.
Source: Agence France Presse
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