A Sanaa court on Thursday cleared five Saudi nationals on charges of joining an Al-Qaida plot to attack Yemen's security forces but jailed two of them for entering the country illegally.

The five, arrested in June, faced charges of plotting, "in association with an armed group belonging to Al-Qaida to carry out criminal acts against members of the security forces in Yemen," official media reported earlier this month.

Saudi authorities beheaded on Wednesday a national after he was convicted of murder, the interior ministry said.

Salem bin Hasan al-Essi was found guilty of shooting dead Omar bin Shami al-Shardi, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

One Iranian was killed and another wounded in an exchange of fire between Saudi coastguards and a boat containing drugs smugglers, the official SPA news agency reported on Monday.

It said the clash took place on Friday when the coastguards intercepted a vessel with three Iranians and a Saudi on board that was attempting to run drugs into the kingdom off the Eastern Province.

Saudi Arabia said Monday it will outlaw the dissemination of information on the Internet for the benefit of "terrorist" groups, in line with a decision taken by Gulf Arab monarchies.

The official SPA news agency said the cabinet approved the "unified legislation against cybercrime," which the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) adopted in December.

Saudi diplomat kidnapped in Yemen by Al-Qaida has urged his relatives to stage protests to push Riyadh to answer the demands of his abductors, in a new video posted online.

Abdullah al-Khalidi, Saudi's deputy consul in the southern port city of Aden who was kidnapped nearly 17 months ago, appears in the video wearing a traditional white thawb cloak and sporting a long beard.

Another three people have died in Saudi Arabia after contracting the MERS coronavirus, the Health Ministry said Sunday, bringing the kingdom's total fatalities of the SARS-like virus to 47.

A Saudi man, aged 74, died in the western city of Medina after being in contact with an infected person, the ministry said on its website.

Saudi Arabia's Health Ministry says two more people have died from an SARS-like virus, raising the total number of fatalities in the center of the outbreak to 44.

Friday's statement is expected to add further pressures on Saudi officials to try to battle the virus during the upcoming hajj, when millions of Muslim are to make the annual pilgrimage to Islam's holiest sites.

A man wanted in connection with protests among Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority has turned himself in, police said on Thursday.

Hasan bin Jaafar bin Hasan, surrendered to police in the Shiite district of Qatif, in Eastern Province, said an interior ministry statement carried by SPA state news agency.

Five Saudis accused of belonging to al-Qaida and of plotting attacks went on trial Wednesday in a Yemeni court set up for terrorism cases, the official Saba news agency reported.

The five men face charges of plotting "in association with an armed group belonging to al-Qaida to carry out criminal acts against members of the armed and security forces in Yemen," Saba said.

A Saudi was beheaded by the sword on Tuesday after being convicted of murdering his brother, the interior ministry said.

Abdullah al-Harbi was convicted of shooting dead his brother Mohammed with a pistol, it said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.