Two Saudi men were beheaded by the sword on Sunday after they were convicted of murdering two compatriots, the Saudi interior ministry said. Musaed bin Attiyah al-Ruwaili was executed in the northern town of Ar'ar after he was found guilty of "detaining, beating and electrocuting Ahmad bin Obaid al-Anzi until he passed away," the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.
Badr bin Hmoud al-Khumaisi was executed in the western Jeddah region after he was found guilty of fatally shooting Shayem bin Saleh al-Rashidi following a dispute, the ministry said.
The beheadings bring to 74 the number of executions announced by Saudi Arabia this year. Last year, a record 153 people were executed in the oil-rich Gulf kingdom, which applies a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law. This figure c mpared with 37 in 2006 and the previous record number of 113 executions in 2000. Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking can all carry the death penalty in the ultra-conservative country, where executions are usually carried out in public.