Saudi carries out 77th execution this year, beheads drug trafficker

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under the oil-rich nation's strict version of sharia, or Islamic law.

A Saudi convicted of trafficking drugs was beheaded Friday at Tabuk in the northwest of the conservative desert kingdom, the interior ministry said.

HT Image

Anad al-Amrani had been found guilty of smuggling a large number of pills into the country, said a ministry statement cited by the official SPA news agency.

Friday's beheading takes to 77 the number of people executed in Saudi Arabia this year, according to an AFP count.

In 2012, Saudi Arabia carried out 76 executions, according to a tally based on official figures. Rights group Amnesty International put last year's figure at 79.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under the oil-rich nation's strict version of sharia, or Islamic law.