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Public execution in Saudi Arabia (file photo) |
Saudi authorities executed a Saudi national on Monday for the murder of a compatriot, bringing the number of executions by capital punishment to 56 in the kingdom this year.
Ahmed al-Harbi was found guilty of stabbing and shooting Fahed al-Balawi during a quarrel, according to a statement by the interior ministry published by state news agency SPA.
Harbi was executed in the northern city of Tabuk.
Most executions in Saudi Arabia are beheadings carried out by sword.
In 2015, Saudi Arabia ordered the execution of 153 people, the majority of which were death penalty sentences given for drug trafficking or murder, according to an AFP tally.
On a single day last month it put 47 people to death for "terrorism", including influential Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
Amnesty International reports that the total number of executions in the kingdom in 2015 was the highest for 2 decades.
Saudia Arabia enforces a strict Islamic legal code under which murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape, homosexuality and apostasy are all punishable by death.
Source: Agence France-Presse, February 1, 2016