Saudi Carries out 130th Execution this Year

Saudi authorities put to death a convicted murderer on Thursday, bringing to 130 the number of executions in the kingdom so far this year, according to an AFP tally.

Saudi citizen Mashari al-Shammari was found guilty of killing fellow tribesman Sufouq al-Shammari in a frenzied attack with a gun, a dagger and a stick, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

He was put to death in the northeastern town of Hafr al-Baten, close to the Iraqi border.

The 130 executions carried out in Saudi Arabia so far this year far exceeds the 87 AFP counted in the whole of 2014.

Last month, Amnesty International appealed for a moratorium, criticizing the kingdom's "deeply flawed judicial system".

The human rights group says that Saudi Arabia is one of the world's most prolific executioners, alongside China, Iran, Iraq and the United States.

Under Saudi Arabia's strict Islamic legal code, drug trafficking, murder, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.

The vast majority of executions are carried out by beheading, some in public, but a few are carried out by firing squad.