RIYADH: Saudi Arabia execut
ed two convicted ‘drug traffickers’, including a Pakistani
national, on Thursday, Saudi state media r
eported.
The Saudi Press Agency named the two men as Saudi
national Nasser Harshan and Pakistani
national Naimtallah Khasta Gul.
Both were put to death on Thursday after being convicted of drug trafficking
in the kingdom. SPA said Harshan was a repeat offender found guilty of dealing hashish. Gul was found guilty of dealing heroin.
Most Saudi executions are carried out by beheading with a sword, in what the ministry says is a deterrent.
Th
e latest executions have increased the number of prisoners killed
in the kingdom to 20 so far this year.
More than 150 people were executed last year in Saudi Arabia, according to London-based rights group Amnesty International.
Amnesty r
eported 158 death penalties
in the country for 2015, the highest annual rate
in the past two decades.
Among those executed last year was Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a high-profile figure behind a string of Shia protests in 2011 demanding reforms
in the Wahhabi-ruled kingdom.
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