Saudi Arabia beheads Turk for drug trafficking

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia on Thursday beheaded a Turkish man convicted of drug trafficking, the interior ministry said, in the latest execution in the conservative Gulf kingdom.

Ali Agridas had been convicted of receiving a “large amount of drugs” and was executed in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the ministry said in a statement.

His execution brings to 70 the number of Saudis and foreigners beheaded in the kingdom this year, according to an AFP count, despite international concern.

Rape, murder, apostasy, drug trafficking and armed robbery are all punishable by death under the kingdom’s strict version of Sharia.