Saudi Arabia has beheaded a Pakistani national after
sentencing him to death on charges related to drug trafficking, bringing to 93
the number of executions in the kingdom this year.
The Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement that the
convicted Pakistani man, identified as Mohammed Ishaq Thawab Gul, was beheaded
on Tuesday.
The man was found guilty of smuggling heroin into the
kingdom, the ministry added.
In the most stunning case of executions this year, Saudi
Arabia executed on January 2 Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr along 46 other people in
defiance of international calls for the release of the prominent Shia cleric
and other jailed political dissidents in the kingdom.
According to an AFP count, Saudi Arabia carried out 153
executions, including 71 foreign nationals, in 2015.
This number of executions in terms of annual basis in Saudi
Arabia has been unseen since 1995.
Saudi officials execute convicts by sword and then dangle
their corpses from a helicopter to make sure the public could see the result of
the execution.
Concern is growing about the increasing number of executions
in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi authorities say the executions reveal the Saudi
government’s commitment to “maintaining security and realizing justice.”
The country has come under particular criticism from rights
groups for the executions carried out for non-fatal crimes.
According to the London-based rights group Amnesty
International, Saudi Arabia has one of the highest execution rates in the
world. The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Saudi
regime to abolish its “ghastly” beheadings.
Rights experts have raised concerns about the fairness of
trials in Saudi Arabia.
Muslim clerics have also denounced Riyadh for executing
suspects without giving them a chance to defend themselves, describing the
Saudi authorities as uncivilized.
Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking
are all punishable by death under Saudi rule.
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