Saudi executed for shooting dead compatriot

Cairo: Saudi authorities had executed a citizen after he was convicted of murdering a compatriot, the Interior Ministry said.

Nasher bin Ali, a Saudi national, was convicted of shooting dead his compatriot Abdullah Al Qahtani. He was arrested and convicted by a law court of the murder and handed down a death sentence.

The verdict was upheld by an appeals court and approved by a royal order, the ministry added. The cause of the murder was not given.

The convict was executed Monday in the city of Abha, part of the region of Assir in south-western Saudi Arabia, the ministry said.

Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty against convicts in cases of murder as well as drug smuggling and trafficking.