No leniency: S Arabia beheads Pak drug trafficker

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Islamic law.

RIYADH: Saudi authorities beheaded a Pakistani on Sunday for drug smuggling, the interior ministry said. Mohammed Zayer Khan Qol was arrested as he was “smuggling a large amount of heroin” into the kingdom, said the statement published by the official SPA news agency. His beheading in the western region of Makkah brings to 73 the number of executions carried out in Saudi Arabia this year, according to an AFP count. In 2012, 76 executions were carried out, according to a tally based on official figures. Human Rights Watch put the number at 69. Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under the strict Islamic law.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2013.