Saudi Arabia executes 68th convict 'by the sword'

Saudi beheading. Date and place unknown.

The medieval kindom of Saudi Arabia has again beheaded a man convicted of murder. That raises the number of executions in the kingdom this year to at least 68. The execution was in Najran in the south. The Saudi interior ministry said that the convicted Mohammed al-Jawad had shot dead a fellow Saudi. 
The list of executions seems almost endless:
On 9 October eight Bangladeshis were beheaded in the capital Riyad after having being condemned for robbery and murder. On the same day also two Saudis were beheaded. The Banghadeshi men were part of a group of 11 Bangladeshis who had stolen goods from a warehouse after tying up its Egyptian guard, who was left behind to die, according to the Sauedi interiro mninistry. The other three Bangladeshis were sentenced to an unspecified number of years in jails and a lashing.

 On 7 October two Saudi men convicted of murder were executed by the sword in the northern city of Tabuk, the Saudi interior ministry said. One was found guilty of stabbing to death two brothers, the other of killing an Afghan man with a machine gun.
On 19 September the Sudanese Abdul Hamid al-Fakki was beheaded in Medina, because he had been found guilty of  "practicing witchcraft and sorcery," which are illegal under Saudi Arabia's Islamic sharia law.
On 30 July three Saudis were beheaded on Saturday in the western city of Taef after being convicted of killing fellow citizens in two separate incidents, state news agency SPA reported.
On 20 June Indonesia recalled its ambassador to Saudi Arabia amid anger over the beheading of an Indonesian maid convicted of murdering her Saudi employer. Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said.Riyadh carried out the execution by sword without giving Indonesia prior notice. "We cannot accept it and will file a strong protest to the Saudi government," he said, adding that Jakarta's ambassador had been recalled for consultations.
The woman, Ruyati binti Sapubi, was found guilty of murdering Saudi woman Khairiya bint Hamid Mijlid by striking her repeatedly on the head with a meat cleaver and stabbing her in the neck.
The migrant worker had been subjected to constant verbal abuse and refused permission to leave the kingdom, according to Indonesia's National Agency for Placement and Protection of Migrant Workers.
"In court, Ruyati confessed she killed her employer's wife after a quarrel because her request to be allowed to go home was turned down," agency chief Jumhur Hidayat told Antara news agency.



Press tv's report of the beheading of the Indonesian maid.
 
In September, Amnesty International called on the kingdom where 140 people were on death row to establish an "immediate moratorium on executions." Amnesty said Saudi Arabia was one of a minority of states which voted against a UN General Assembly resolution last December calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions. Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
Amnesty says Saudi Arabia executed 27 convicts in 2010, compared to 68 executions announced the year.