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Saudi Arabia on Tuesday beheaded by sword two men, bringing to 106 the number of executions announced by the kingdom, the interior ministry said. Saudi Khaled al-Jahni was executed in the holy city of Medina after being convicted of sexually assaulting a number of women, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency. Nigerian Saghiroo Ijbaji was put to death in the Red Sea city of Jeddah for smuggling cocaine, it said. The number of executions so far this year is the highest since 2000, when 113 people were put to death. Ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia applies a strict form of Islamic sharia law, and executions are usually carried out in public.
Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are capital offences.
The oil-rich kingdom has come under intense criticism from Western rights groups because of its execution policy. Amnesty International, in its 2007 report, said many defendants accused of crimes that carried the death penalty complained they were not represented by lawyers or informed of the progress of their trial.
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