Saudi beheads murderer, warns others will face same fate

Mansour bin Awad bin Ziniegih al-Jabri was sentenced to death after being convicted of shooting dead another Saudi in a family dispute, the interior ministry said.

Authorities carried out the sentence in the central Qassim region, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The government is committed “to maintaining security, realising justice and implementing God’s law on those who shed blood,” the ministry said.

“It warns others tempted to carry out any similar act that their fate will be the same legitimate punishment.”

The kingdom has faced international criticism for its frequent use of the death penalty.

An independent expert working on behalf of the United Nations expressed concern in September about the judicial process in Saudi Arabia, calling for an immediate moratorium on executions.

The kingdom executed 87 people last year, up from 78 in 2013, according to an AFP tally.

Saudi Arabia had the third-highest number of recorded executions in 2013, behind Iran and Iraq, according to rights group Amnesty International.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia’s strict version of Islamic sharia law.