Saudi Arabia executes Egyptian, three Sri Lankans

According to AFP tallies, four deaths bring to 120 the number of executions this year in the kingdom

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Monday executed three Sri Lankans found guilty of robbing and killing a citizen as well as an Egyptian convicted of murder in a separate case, the interior ministry said.

The four deaths bring to 120 the number of executions this year in the kingdom, compared with 87 for the whole of 2014, according to AFP tallies.

The three Sri Lankans were convicted of breaking into the Saudi man's home, striking him on the head and suffocating him before stealing money, the ministry said in a statement posted on the official SPA news agency website.

They were beheaded in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, it said.

In a separate statement, the ministry said that authorities in Eastern Province also executed an Egyptian man convicted of stabbing and strangling to death a fellow citizen after an argument.

Amnesty International says Saudi Arabia is one of the world's most prolific executioners, along with China, Iran, Iraq and the United States.

Under the conservative kingdom's strict Islamic sharia legal code, murder, armed robbery, rape, drug trafficking and apostasy are all punishable by death.

Executions in Saudi Arabia are almost always carried out by beheading.

The interior ministry has cited deterrence as a reason for carrying out the punishments but rights experts have raised concerns about the fairness of trials in the kingdom.