Saudi Beheaded for Murder

A Saudi convicted of murder was beheaded by the sword on Wednesday, in the fourth execution so far this month in the conservative Muslim kingdom, the interior ministry announced.

Suwaileh al-Sahimi was executed in the Muslim holy city of Medina, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

He was convicted of killing a member of his tribe in a dispute, it said.

According to an Agence France Presse tally, Sahimi's execution brings to four the number of people put to death this year under Saudi Arabia's strict version of Islamic law.

After 27 executions in 2010, the number of death sentences carried out in the Gulf state jumped to around 80 annually, with 87 last year.

The country had the third-highest number of recorded executions in 2013, behind Iran and Iraq, Amnesty International said in a report.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.