Saudi executes fourth Pakistani in two weeks

Three other Pakistanis found guilty of heroin smuggling have also been beheaded this month


Afp October 28, 2014

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia beheaded a man convicted of heroin smuggling Tuesday, the interior ministry said, bringing to four the number executed in two weeks.

Mohammed Gul Rahma was executed in Qatif in the kingdom's oil-rich Eastern Province, the official SPA news agency reported, citing the interior ministry.

Rahma "was caught smuggling a large quantity of heroin," SPA said.

Three other Pakistanis found guilty of heroin smuggling have also been beheaded this month, two of them in the Eastern Province.

Also on Tuesday, Mohammed bin Noun bin Nasser Al Dhufairi of Saudi Arabia was executed in northern Jawf region for smuggling amphetamines pills, SPA said.

It said a Saudi national was also executed in a separate case, raising to 61 the number of death sentences carried out in the kingdom this year, according to an AFP tally.

The interior ministry says the government "is keen on combating narcotics due to their great harm to individuals and society."

A United Nations independent expert called in September for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.

Christof Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said trials "are by all accounts grossly unfair" and defendants are often not allowed a lawyer.

He said confessions were obtained under torture.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia's strict version of Islamic sharia law.

COMMENTS (3)

UJ | 9 years ago | Reply

No mercy for herion/drug smugglers, they spread death. When they are not hesitating in killing other's son/daughters, why one would hesitate in punishing them. I like KSA because of strong punishments for the accused. This is the way to deal with plague. Nip the evil in the bud.

Kepler-8B | 9 years ago | Reply

@whats in the name: Trying to be civilized. Every society has criminal and murderers. Stop judging other societies Look at your own backyard first.

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