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Saudi beheads Yemeni on drug-related offences

Around half of the executions this year have been for drug-related offences

Afp April 01, 2015

drug trafficking rape murder apostasy and armed robbery are all punishable by death under the kingdom 039 s strict version of islamic sharia law stock image

Drug trafficking, rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are all punishable by death under the kingdom's strict version of Islamic sharia law. STOCK IMAGE

RIYADH: Saudi authorities beheaded Wednesday a Yemeni convicted of promoting drugs in the ultra-conservative kingdom, where executions have surged this year, the interior ministry said.

Majed Ahmed Shraheli was found guilty of "receiving and promoting a large amount of hashish," said the interior ministry statement published on the official Saudi Press Agency.

His beheading in the southwestern city of Jizan brings to 55 the number of death sentences carried so far this year, compared with 87 in all of 2014, according to AFP tallies.

Around half of the executions this year have been for drug-related offences, London-based Amnesty said in March, charging that this contradicts Saudi claims that the punishment is imposed for only the most serious crimes.

Drug trafficking, rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are all punishable by death under the kingdom's strict version of Islamic Sharia law.