RIYADH: A man convicted of smuggling heroin became Thursday the seventh Pakistani beheaded over the past month in Saudi Arabia for drug trafficking.

The execution of Niyaz Mohammed Ghulam Mohammed was carried out in Riyadh after he was “tried and found guilty of attempting to smuggle a large amount of heroin,” the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

Pakistani Smuggler Niaz Mohammad Ghulam Mohammad was executed in Kharj Governorate, Riyadh Region, today because he tried to smuggle a large quantity of heroin inside his intestines into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the Saudi Ministry of Interior said in a statement.

The latest case brings to 67 the number of foreigners and Saudis executed for crimes this year, despite international concerns.

The Saudi interior ministry says the government is battling narcotics “because of their great harm to individuals and society.”

Also read: UN asks Saudi Arabia to impose moratorium on death penalty

In September, an independent expert working on behalf of the United Nations called for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.

Rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are also punishable by death under the kingdom’s strict Sharia laws.

Opinion

Editorial

Pakistan’s moment
Updated 20 Jun, 2026

Pakistan’s moment

Pakistan’s diplomats are second to none, and if these states seek to engage this country constructively, a new modus vivendi for the subcontinent can be reached.
Menacing water plans
20 Jun, 2026

Menacing water plans

IN April last year, India suspended the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty, which contains no provision allowing it to...
World Refugee Day
20 Jun, 2026

World Refugee Day

WORLD Refugee Day, observed today around the globe, marks 75 years since the adoption of the 1951 convention ...
Digital deal
19 Jun, 2026

Digital deal

THINGS have moved rapidly where the Iran-US memorandum of understanding is concerned. While the physical document ...
Failing the public
19 Jun, 2026

Failing the public

WHETHER it is Sindh’s struggle to secure clean drinking water or Balochistan’s difficulty in improving the...
Crushed lives
19 Jun, 2026

Crushed lives

COURTS and commissions have often been up in arms over the health and ecological hazards associated with...