Two men, a Pakistani and an Iraqi, were beheaded Saturday for smuggling drugs into Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Interior Ministry announced. The Pakistani, Mohammed Amin Abdullah Jan, was convicted of smuggling an undisclosed amount of heroin into the kingdom and was beheaded in the Red Sea port city of Jiddah, the ministry statement said. Mattar bin Hussein bin Bakhit al-Khazaali, an Iraqi, was convicted of smuggling hashish into the kingdom and was beheaded in the northern town of Arar, close to the Iraqi border, according to the ministry.
Al-Khazaali is the second Iraqi to be executed in this border town in the past 10 days. Qaied bin Kamal bin Mohammed al-Zayadi, an Iraqi, was convicted of smuggling an undisclosed quantity of hashish into the kingdom and was beheaded in Arar on Dec. 22. At least 35 people were beheaded in the kingdom in 2004 compared with 52 people in 2003, most of whom were convicted of drug smuggling. |