Two Pakistani were beheaded by Saudi authorities on Tuesday for drug smuggling in the kingdom’s first executions of the year, according to statements by the interior ministry.
In the Red city of Jeddah, Abrar Hussein Nizar Hussein was executed after being convicted of an attempt for smuggling in heroin hidden in his stomach, the ministry said in a statement quoted by SPA state news agency.
In another statement, it was said that Zahid Khan Barakat was beheaded in Qatif, in Eastern Province, over a similar charge.
According to a foreign news agency’s record, 78 people were executed in Saudi Arabia where rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under strict Shariah laws.
