Saudi Beheads Citizen for Murder

Saudi Arabia beheaded one of its citizens on Tuesday after convicting him of murder, the interior ministry said.

Mufreh bin Mohammed al-Assiri was found guilty of shooting dead another Saudi, Salman bin Issa al-Assiri, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

The beheading in the southwestern Asir region brings to 59 the number of people executed in Saudi Arabia so far this year, according to an Agence France Presse tally based on official reports.

Amnesty International says 79 people were put to death in the Gulf kingdom last year.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under its strict version of sharia, or Islamic law.