Riyadh: Saudi Arabia beheaded two citizens on Tuesday after they were convicted of two separate murders, the interior ministry said.

Shuwail Al Amri was found guilty of killing Mohammad Al Amri, an apparent relative, by deliberately running him over with a car after a dispute, the ministry said in a statement published by SPA state news agency.

The execution took place in the southwestern region of Al Baha.

In another statement, the ministry said Hasan Sharahili, a Saudi, was executed after a court found him guilty of shooting dead his compatriot Mohammad Abdullah Musbeh Al Amri in the southwestern city of Jizan.

Their beheadings bring to 49 the number of people executed in the kingdom this year.

In 2012, the kingdom put to death 76 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Human Rights Watch has put the number at 69.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia’s strict version of sharia.