Qatari and Jordanian among five executed in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has executed a Qatari and a Jordanian national, along with three Saudis, raising the country's toll from executions to 69 - just two months into the year.
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Saudi Arabia beheads those sentenced to death using swords [File Photo: Getty]
A Qatari and a Jordanian national were executed in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, alongside three Saudis. The number of executions so far this year has now reached 69.
Qatari Mohammed Jarboui was executed in the eastern region of Al-Ahsa, after being convicted of murdering a Saudi, the interior ministry said.
The Jordanian, Abdallah Tayaha, was convicted of amphetamine trafficking along with two other Saudis, Sliman and Ahmed Messoudi.
Kassadi Atoudi, executed in the southern region of Jazan, had been convicted of murder.
Among the executions already this year are the names of 47 people who were sentenced to death under "terrorism" charges on January 2.
The kingdom came under fire for executing a prominent Shia cleric from its eastern region, along with al-Qaeda militants.
The 56-year-old cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was a driving force of protests that broke out in 2011 in the kingdom's east, where the Shia minority complains of marginalisation.
The execution of al-Nimr sparked widespread anger across the region and resulted in deteriorating relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, where the Saudi embassy was attacked.
The kingdom, which has a long history of human rights violations, has come under fire on numerous occasions for its gruesome procedure in carrying out the capital punishment.
Most executions see condemned convicts beheaded with a sword in public.
In 2015, Saudi Arabia executed 153 people, most of them for drug trafficking or murder, according to an AFP count.
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