Summary He was executed in the southern province of Najran, said a ministry statement.
RIYADH (AFP) - Saudi Arabia beheaded a citizen for drug trafficking on Monday raising to 57 the number of executions it has carried out so far this year.
Saleh al-Yami was convicted of smuggling hashish and banned narcotic pills and of wounding several policemen, the interior ministry said.
He was executed in the southern province of Najran, said a ministry statement published by the official SPA news agency.
Saudi Arabia has seen a surge in executions this year. Human rights group Amnesty International says around half of them have been for drug-related offences.
Drug trafficking, rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are all punishable by death under the kingdom s strict version of Islamic sharia law.
In 2014, it executed 87 people, according to an AFP tally.
