Saudi beheaded for murder while drunk
RIYADH — Saudi Arabia beheaded a man in the kingdom's southwest on Tuesday after he was convicted of killing a drinking partner while they were consuming alcohol, the interior ministry announced.
Sultan al-Asiri, a Saudi, was beheaded by the sword after he was found to have shot dead another citizen, Mufreh Asiri, "as they met for drinking intoxicants," said the statement carried by state news agency SPA.
The beheading, which raises to 72 the number of executions in Saudi Arabia this year, took place in the southwestern city of Abha.
In September, Amnesty International called on the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom where 140 people were on death row to establish an "immediate moratorium on executions."
The rights group said Saudi Arabia was one of a minority of states which voted against a UN General Assembly resolution last December calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions.
Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
Amnesty says Saudi Arabia executed 27 convicts in 2010, compared to 67 executions announced the year before.
No comments:
Post a Comment