Saudi man executed for witchcraft

Riyadh Saudi Arabia executed a man for practising witchcraft and committing adultery, the state news agency said on Tuesday citing a statement from the Interior Ministry.

“Mareeh Bin Ali Bin Essa Al Asiri [Saudi national] practised witchcraft and sorcery, and was in possession of books and talismans from which he learnt to harm God’s worshippers and admitted adultery with two women,” said the statement.

Al Asiri was executed in Najran Province near Saudi Arabia’s border with Yemen, Saudi Press Agency reported.

Last year Saudi Arabia beheaded a man and a woman for witchcraft in two separate cases.

Amnesty International said at least 82 people were executed in Saudi Arabia last year, many of them by public beheading.