Thursday, November 24, 2011

Iraqi man executed in Saudi Arabia

RIYADH: An Iraqi man was executed on Wednesday after being convicted of murdering a Saudi national in the kingdom's northern border region, the ministry of interior said in a statement.

The statement carried by the state news agency SPA said Mohammed bin Abd al-Shamri was found guilty of shooting to death Saeed bin Saad al-Nasafi.

His execution raises the number of people put to death in the kingdom to at least 69 since January.

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, homosexuality and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

Source: Agence France-Presse, November 23, 2011

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