A Saudi was beheaded for murder on Saturday after his victim's children refused to grant him a pardon, raising to at least 49 the number of executions announced in the kingdom this year, the interior ministry said.
It said that the execution was carried out in the Mandaq region of southwest Saudi Arabia.
Saad bin Fatis al-Zahrani was convicted several years ago for shooting dead a fellow Saudi, SPA said. He had to wait for his victim's children to reach adulthood to see if they would save his life by accepting blood money under Islamic law.
Saudi Arabia applies Islamic sharia law, which imposes the death penalty on people found guilty of murder, rape, apostasy, armed robbery, drug trafficking and repeated drug offences.
It has been the subject of a string of critical reports by the London-based human rights organization, Amnesty International, which has pointed to alleged defects in the criminal justice system.
Saudi King Fahd insisted on Monday that Islamic law was the best guarantor of human rights -- RIYADH (AFP)
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
