Drug trafficker beheaded in Saudi Arabia

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

RIYADH (AFP) — A convicted drug trafficker was put to death by the sword in Saudi Arabia's eastern city of Khobar on Sunday, the interior ministry said.

Hussein Muilu, a Saudi national, was condemned to death after being convicted of smuggling hashish into the kingdom, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

Sunday's beheading brings to 71 the number of executions announced by Saudi Arabia this year.

Last year, a record 153 people were put to death in the ultra-conservative Arab kingdom, which applies a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law. This figure compared with 37 beheaded in 2006.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking can all carry the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, where executions are...