Saudi Beheads Palestinian for Setting Up Gang

A Palestinian was beheaded in Saudi Arabia on Monday after being convicted of forming a gang to carry out robberies in the kingdom, the interior ministry said.

Mohammed al-Khalili "formed a gang with others that carries out thefts, burglaries, and robbery against homes," said the statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

The execution, in the port city of Jeddah, brings to 67 the number of people put to death in Saudi Arabia so far this year, according to an Agence France Presse tally based on official reports.

Amnesty International says 79 people were executed in the ultra-conservative Muslim 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.