Saudi beheads Pakistani, 84 executions in 2015

Agence France-Presse

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Saudi beheads Pakistani, 84 executions in 2015
Iftikhar Ahmed Mohammed Anayat is guilty of attempting to traffic heroin into the kingdom in balloons concealed in his stomach

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia beheaded a Pakistani sentenced to death for drug smuggling on Sunday, May 17, bringing to 84 the number of executions in the ultra-conservative kingdom this 2015, the interior ministry said.

Iftikhar Ahmed Mohammed Anayat was found guilty of attempting to traffic heroin into the kingdom in balloons concealed in his stomach, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

He was executed in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. 

The ministry has cited deterrence as a reason for its use of the death penalty despite criticism from human rights watchdogs.

London-based Amnesty International ranked Saudi Arabia among the world’s top 3 executioners of 2014.

On a visit to Riyadh in May, French President Francois Hollande said capital punishment “should be banned,” and his country is campaigning around the world for its abolition.

Drug trafficking, rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia’s strict version of Islamic Sharia law. – Rappler.com

 

Photo of executioner from Shutterstock

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