RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Monday executed a man convicted of killing his wife, adding to a toll which rights group Amnesty International says is the kingdom's highest in two decades.

Hawas al-Shammry, a Saudi, was put to death for stabbing his Saudi wife to death after a dispute, the interior ministry said in a statement.

Authorities carried out the sentence in Rafha, in the kingdom's north.

According to AFP tallies, Shammry is the 148th local or foreigner put to death this year, against 87 for all of 2014.

London-based Amnesty says the number of executions in Saudi Arabia this year is the highest since 192 people were put to death in 1995.

The toll has rarely exceeded 90 annually in recent years, it said. Reasons for the surge are unclear.

Over the last few weeks, however, there has been a marked drop in executions, all of which are reported by the official Saudi Press Agency.

Rights experts have raised concerns about the fairness of trials in the kingdom but Saudi Arabia's interior ministry says the death penalty is a deterrent to crime.

Related: Saudi woman sentenced to 70 lashes for insulting man on Whatsapp

The sentences are usually carried out by beheading with a sword.

Amnesty says Saudi Arabia had the world's third-highest number of executions last year, far behind China and Iran, and ahead of Iraq and the United States.

Under the kingdom's strict legal code, murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.

Opinion

Editorial

Train in vain
11 Jul, 2025

Train in vain

TALK of ‘revival’ of the long-dead Karachi Circular Railway has turned into a running joke for denizens of this...
Beyond expectations
11 Jul, 2025

Beyond expectations

THESE are tough times, but the country is lucky enough to still be considered home by a large expatriate workforce,...
PIA privatisation
11 Jul, 2025

PIA privatisation

THE government’s latest push to offload PIA signals a bold move, considering the failure of the first such attempt...
No negotiations
10 Jul, 2025

No negotiations

IT seems like the appeal from Kot Lakhpat Jail has fallen on deaf ears. “[…] The time for negotiations has...
Speech policing
Updated 10 Jul, 2025

Speech policing

Sweeping accusations have once more exposed just how broadly and arbitrarily Peca is being applied.
Continued detention
10 Jul, 2025

Continued detention

THE continued detention of BYC head Mahrang Baloch and five other activists indicates that the state is uninterested...