Saudi executes Iraqi for murder

132 foreigners and Saudis have been put to death in the kingdom this year compared with 87 for all of 2014

RIYADH: An Iraqi convicted of murder on Thursday became the 132nd person executed in Saudi Arabia this year, the interior ministry said.

Kazim al-Abasi, a sheep herder, was found guilty of killing a Saudi with whom he worked, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

It said Abasi bashed the victim in the head with a hammer while he slept, bound him and tossed him down a hole before fleeing in his car.

Authorities carried out the death sentence in Hafr al-Batin, near Iraq.

According to AFP tallies, 132 foreigners and Saudis have been put to death in the kingdom this year during a surge of executions that compares with 87 for all of 2014.

London-based Amnesty International last month described Saudi Arabia's judicial system as "deeply flawed" and called for a moratorium on executions.

Read: Saudi beheads murderer in 110th execution since January

Death sentences have nonetheless continued to be carried out.

The interior ministry has cited deterrence as a reason for the punishment.

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

Most Saudi executions are carried out by beheading with a sword.

In July, Amnesty also protested a "staggering" execution spree in Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran, where almost 700 people were put to death this year.