Imran Khan
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Saudi Arabia has beheaded an axe murderer and a heroin smuggler bringing the total number of public executions in the kingdom this year to 34.
Indian man Vijay Kumar Saleem was convicted of killing a Yemeni national in an axe attack by striking him on the head.
According to the Saudi interior ministry, the attack took place after a dispute at the farm where the men worked and Saleem was executed in the capital Riyadh.
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Police officers in Saudi Arabia who impose a strict version of Islamic Sharia law. Under the law, rape, murder, apostasy, drug trafficking and armed robbery are punishable by death
Meanwhile in the holy city of Medina, Pakistani national Hafiz Wifaq Rasoul Shah was also beheaded after being convicted of heroin trafficking.
A separate interior ministry statement said: 'Investigations led to his confession and he was tried and found guilty.'
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According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Gulf has become an increasingly important market for illicit drugs in recent years.
The Saudi government says it 'is committed to fighting drugs of all kinds due to the physical and social harm they cause'.
The beheadings come just a day after a man was sentenced to death forposting a video on a social media site which shows him ripping up the Koran (file picture)
It also says the death penalty in murder cases aims 'to maintain security and realise justice'.
Drug trafficking, rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are all punishable by death under the Gulf kingdom's strict version of Islamic sharia law.
The beheadings come just a day after a man was sentenced to death for renouncing his Muslim faith and posting a video on a social media site which shows him ripping up the Koran before hitting it with his shoe.
A source who was in the General Court during his hearing said: 'In the video he cursed God, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his daughter Fatimah and ripped a copy of the Holy Qur'an and hit it with a shoe.
'The death sentence was issued after his apostasy was proven.'
Amnesty International said in its annual report released on Wednesday that death sentences are often imposed 'after unfair trials'.
The London-based watchdog said some defendants claimed to have been tortured or 'otherwise coerced or misled into making false confessions' before trial.
It is believed that the kingdom executed 87 people last year, up from 78 in 2013.
The Saudi government has taken some steps to reform its judicial system but has also defended it as 'fair'.
Last year a court in Jeddah sentenced Saudi liberal Raif Badawi to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for publishing criticism of the kingdom's ruling religious and political elite and calling for reforms in Islam.
The first of 50 of those lashes were carried out in January, but subsequent rounds of flogging have not occurred.
Officials have not publicly commented on the case, but insiders say the lashing appears to have been quietly dropped.
Read more: Axe murderer and heroin smuggler are both beheaded in Saudi Arabia | Daily Mail Online
Indian man Vijay Kumar Saleem was convicted of killing a Yemeni national in an axe attack by striking him on the head.
According to the Saudi interior ministry, the attack took place after a dispute at the farm where the men worked and Saleem was executed in the capital Riyadh.
+2
Police officers in Saudi Arabia who impose a strict version of Islamic Sharia law. Under the law, rape, murder, apostasy, drug trafficking and armed robbery are punishable by death
Meanwhile in the holy city of Medina, Pakistani national Hafiz Wifaq Rasoul Shah was also beheaded after being convicted of heroin trafficking.
A separate interior ministry statement said: 'Investigations led to his confession and he was tried and found guilty.'
Share
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Gulf has become an increasingly important market for illicit drugs in recent years.
The Saudi government says it 'is committed to fighting drugs of all kinds due to the physical and social harm they cause'.
The beheadings come just a day after a man was sentenced to death forposting a video on a social media site which shows him ripping up the Koran (file picture)
It also says the death penalty in murder cases aims 'to maintain security and realise justice'.
Drug trafficking, rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are all punishable by death under the Gulf kingdom's strict version of Islamic sharia law.
The beheadings come just a day after a man was sentenced to death for renouncing his Muslim faith and posting a video on a social media site which shows him ripping up the Koran before hitting it with his shoe.
A source who was in the General Court during his hearing said: 'In the video he cursed God, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his daughter Fatimah and ripped a copy of the Holy Qur'an and hit it with a shoe.
'The death sentence was issued after his apostasy was proven.'
Amnesty International said in its annual report released on Wednesday that death sentences are often imposed 'after unfair trials'.
The London-based watchdog said some defendants claimed to have been tortured or 'otherwise coerced or misled into making false confessions' before trial.
It is believed that the kingdom executed 87 people last year, up from 78 in 2013.
The Saudi government has taken some steps to reform its judicial system but has also defended it as 'fair'.
Last year a court in Jeddah sentenced Saudi liberal Raif Badawi to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for publishing criticism of the kingdom's ruling religious and political elite and calling for reforms in Islam.
The first of 50 of those lashes were carried out in January, but subsequent rounds of flogging have not occurred.
Officials have not publicly commented on the case, but insiders say the lashing appears to have been quietly dropped.
Read more: Axe murderer and heroin smuggler are both beheaded in Saudi Arabia | Daily Mail Online
