Mahmoud Massih Iqbal Massih was executed in Qatif near the Gulf coast. STOCK IMAGE
In Qatif near the Gulf coast, Mahmoud Massih Iqbal Massih was executed after having been convicted on charges of heroin trafficking, the ministry said.
Saudi Arabia had executed 87 people last year, up from 78 in 2013, according to an AFP tally.
Along with Massih, a Saudi citizen was also beheaded on Wednesday for murdering a soldier.
Rakan bin Eid bin Bikheet al-Baqmi, was found guilty of chasing and firing on a security patrol, killing soldier Sultan bin Ibrahim bin Ghrahid al-Jaid, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
The kingdom had the third-highest number of recorded executions in 2013, behind Iran and Iraq, Amnesty International said in a report.
Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are punishable by death under Saudi Arabia's strict version of Islamic law.
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If you look at the crimes for which capital punishment is delivered in KSA apart from one these are all crimes which directly affect society and individuals both in a most horrible way. People who execute these crimes do so despite full knowledge of the penalties. Drug smugglers wish to short cut the path to an easy life the rest of us work hard for, and don't care how many lives they ruin. Yes we should also catch the big fish but the law applies for everyone. Personally I don't see the point of the state wasting scarce resources in keeping alive for their balance lives people who deliberately refuse to accept the rules of society ie laws.
@bro: Hello Pakistani bro, Its a duty of the Pakistan also to speak about and to take care of its citizens, anywhere in the world. Here Pakistan is behaving as if, those beheaded persons are stray dogs.
O hello Indian trol...... get a life, there are no beheadings in Pakistan
The only source of all beheadings in the world is only one country. They have state and non-state actors bent upon beheadings of naïve people for nonviolent crimes. No civilized country in the world uses such crude and brutal methods. The fact these beheadings take place almost weekly proves that these brutal and crude punishments are no deterrent to the crimes.
STRICT VERSION of Islamic law is more strict in not punishing the MULES blindly.Strict version asks for the real culprits to be punished,not the hapless innocents
I am an Indian but I strongly condemn both the Saudi Arabian government and the Pakistani government for these beheadings. It is highly likely that the mule is some poor guy who did what he did under duress, either financial or otherwise, and has a large family to take care of. Beheading the mules is not going to stop any smuggling. If the two governments are worth their salt, they should try and catch the big guys, who I am sure are pretty well connected and enjoying their life at the cost of others. Those are the ones who deserve capital punishment. Pakistan government seriously needs to take this matter up with the Saudis. I am sure if they investigated and caught the real big fish in Pakistan, the Saudis will be more than willing to reconsider their current approach to the problem.