Saudi Arabia beheads another Pakistani for drug trafficking

Published October 21, 2014
Saudi soldiers during a parade. – File Photo
Saudi soldiers during a parade. – File Photo

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Tuesday beheaded yet another Pakistani convicted of drug smuggling, the interior ministry announced, bringing to almost 60 the number of executions in the conservative Muslim kingdom this year.

Baz Mohammed Ghul Mohammed was found guilty of attempting to smuggle a “large amount of heroin” by hiding it in his stomach, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

He was executed in the Eastern Province city of Khobar, the ministry said.

The Gulf state last year beheaded 78 people, according to an AFP count.

A United Nations independent expert in September called for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.

Christof Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, has said Saudi trials “are by all accounts grossly unfair” and defendants often not allowed a lawyer. He said confessions were obtained under torture.

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

Opinion

Editorial

Rigging claims
04 May, 2024

Rigging claims

THE PTI claims to have “all the evidence” against what it asserts was a rigged election this February. The party...
Gaza’s wasteland
04 May, 2024

Gaza’s wasteland

SINCE the start of hostilities on Oct 7, Israel has put in ceaseless efforts to depopulate Gaza, and make the Strip...
Housing scams
04 May, 2024

Housing scams

THE story of illegal housing schemes in Punjab is the story of greed, corruption and plunder. Major players in these...
Under siege
Updated 03 May, 2024

Under siege

Whether through direct censorship, withholding advertising, harassment or violence, the press in Pakistan navigates a hazardous terrain.
Meddlesome ways
03 May, 2024

Meddlesome ways

AFTER this week’s proceedings in the so-called ‘meddling case’, it appears that the majority of judges...
Mass transit mess
03 May, 2024

Mass transit mess

THAT Karachi — one of the world’s largest megacities — does not have a mass transit system worth the name is ...