Saudi Beheaded for Drug Smuggling

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday beheaded one of its citizens for smuggling drugs into the conservative Muslim kingdom, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

Ali al-Muzayyan was executed in the northern region of Jawf after being found guilty of smuggling "a large quantity of amphetamine pills," it said.

His beheading brings to 48 the number of people executed in Saudi Arabia so far this year, according to an Agence France Presse tally based on official reports.

Under the AFP count, at least 76 people were beheaded in 2011, while rights group Amnesty International put the number for last year at 79.

The death penalty in Saudi Arabia applies to a wide range of offences including rape, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking, as well as murder, as stipulated by Islamic sharia law.