Saudi man beheaded for murder

Jeddah, November 07: A Saudi man was beheaded by the sword in the western region of Mecca after being convicted of murdering a compatriot, the interior ministry said.

Hasan bin Ahmed al-Qarni was found guilty of running over Mohammed bin Hasan bin Ali al-Qarni with his car and then shooting him several times with a pistol over a land dispute, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

The beheading took to 60 the number of executions in Saudi Arabia this year. Last year, Saudi Arabia put 102 people to death.

Capital punishment can be imposed for the crimes of rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking under the ultra-conservative kingdom’s strict Islamic sharia laws.