Saudi beheaded for murdering Indian

EXECUTION NUMBERS: Saudis walking near Riyadh's Justice Square where all sentences pronounced by the Saudi Islamic Court are executed. (AFP)

A Saudi was beheaded by the sword on Thursday for murdering an Indian man, the interior ministry said.

Fatin bin Fallaj al-Shibani al-Otaybi was found guilty of stabbing the victim to death and stealing his belongings, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

The execution brings to 78 the number announced by Saudi Arabia this year.

On Tuesday, Amnesty International charged that poor migrants were bearing the brunt of a surge in executions in the ultra-conservative kingdom.

The human rights watchdog complained that the Saudi government "continues to execute people at an average of more than two a week."

Last year, a record 153 people were executed in the Gulf kingdom, which applies a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law. This figure compared with 37 in 2006 and the previous record of 113 in 2000.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking can all carry the death penalty in the ultra-conservative country, where executions are usually carried out in public.

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