Saudi Arabia on Wednesday executed two Pakistani men for possessing, selling and smuggling drugs and a Saudi national for raping minors, the Interior Ministry said. A ministry statement carried by the official news agency SPA said one Pakistani was put to death in the city of Jeddah for selling hashish and having an unspecified quantity of heroin. Another Pakistani man was also executed in Jeddah after he was convicted of smuggling an unspecified quantity of heroin in his abdomen. Saudi Arabia also executed a national in the northern city of Buraida after he was convicted of “luring minors and raping them by force”, a ministry statement said.
The executions raised to at least five the number of people put to death in the kingdom so far this year. Saudi Arabia follows strict Islamic law and executions are usually carried out by public beheading with a sword. Convicted murderers, rapists and drug traffickers are liable for the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.