RIYADH.
Saudi Arabia beheaded a Pakistani charged of drug smuggling on Thursday. The number of executions in the first six weeks of the year rose to 29, according to an AFP tally.
Babir Hussein Mohammed Ishaq was guilty of transporting heroin, which he ingested, said the interior ministry in a statement given to the official Saudi Press Agency.
The government says it will combat narcotics but has faced international criticism over its human rights record, including the death penalty.
Drug trafficking, rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia’s strict version of the Islamic sharia law.
Saudi Arabia has executed 87 people last year.
