Saudi Arab beheads drug smuggler as executions surge
The ultra-conservative Gulf state has carried out around 80 executions annually since 2011
RIYADH (AFP) - Saudi authorities on Wednesday beheaded a man found guilty of smuggling drugs into the ultra-conservative kingdom, the interior ministry said, amid a surge in executions this year
Faisal bin Rafaa al-Ashjaie was convicted of smuggling "a large amount of amphetamine pills," the ministry said in a statement on the official SPA news agency.
His beheading in the northwestern region of Jawf brings to 54 the number of death sentences carried out in Saudi Arabia so far this year, compared with 87 in all of last year, according to AFP tallies.
The ultra-conservative Gulf state has carried out around 80 executions annually since 2011, under its version of Islamic sharia law.
By comparison, Iran has executed more than 1,000 people since January last year, the UN special rapporteur on Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, said last week.
