Riyadh: Saudi authorities on Thursday beheaded a man for murdering one Bangladeshi man and stabbing another during a bid to rob them, the interior ministry said.
Sultan Al Sahli, a Saudi, was convicted of killing one of the Bangladeshis with a blow to the head, and stabbing and wounding the other, said the ministry, cited by state-run SPA news agency.
Sahli wanted to steal their mobile phones and money, it said.
26 executions so far this year
His beheading brings to 26 the total number of executions in the ultra-conservative kingdom so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on official reports.
Under the AFP count, at least 76 people were beheaded in 2011 in Saudi Arabia, while rights group Amnesty International put the number of executions last year at 79.
The death penalty in Saudi Arabia applies to a wide range of offences including rape, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking, as well as murder, as stipulated by Islamic Sharia law.
