Third Pakistani this year beheaded in Saudi

Interior ministry says investigations led to his confession and after a trial he was sentenced to death


Afp January 19, 2015
PHOTO: AFP

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Monday beheaded a convicted Pakistani heroin smuggler, the third person from Pakistan executed for the crime this year.

Yassir Arafat Munir Ahmed was executed in Makkah, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

"Investigations led to his confession and after a trial he was sentenced to death," the ministry said.

Ahmed is the 11th person, and the third Pakistani, to be executed in the kingdom.

The interior ministry has said it is battling narcotics because of the "great harm" they do to society.

In September, an independent expert working on behalf of the United Nations expressed concern about the judicial process and called for an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom had the third-highest number of recorded executions in 2013, behind Iran and Iraq, Amnesty International said in a report.

The Gulf has become an increasingly important market for illicit drugs in recent years, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says.

On Sunday, the interior ministry said Saudi and United Arab Emirates security agents had disrupted a heroin trafficking network.

Two truck drivers from Pakistan were arrested.

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

COMMENTS (7)

Adil | 9 years ago | Reply

Why doesn't Saudi's stop terror finance from its citizen given to Pakistan seminaries which has resulted in if not thousands perhaps in tens of thousand deaths. Why don't they execute their own for knowingly sending money to these outfits?

Anti-HateSpeech | 9 years ago | Reply

If the person has actually this crime then this punishment makes sense. What exactly does ET want to convey to people rather than spread propaganda against Pakistan & defend india at all costs. Also, Thailand and MANY other countries impose death penalty on drug traffickers.

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