Saudi beheadings bring execution tally to 60 this year

Al-Akhbar reports:

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday beheaded by the sword two nationals convicted of murdering a Syrian and of armed robbery, the interior ministry said.

Ibrahim al-Qanbar and Ahmed al-Musalam were found guilty of attacking a labor camp and opening fire on residents, killing Mohammed al-Shuja and wounding another person, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

Qanbar was also charged with several acts of armed robbery, it said.

The beheadings in the Qatif district, in Eastern Province, brings to 60 the number of people executed in Saudi Arabia this year, according to an AFP count.

In 2012, the US-backed Gulf country executed 76 people, according to a tally based on official figures. Human Rights Watch has put the number at 69.
Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery, drug trafficking, sorcery and witchcraft are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia's medieval justice system.