[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 18


SAUDI ARABIA:

2 Saudis beheaded for murder, rape


2 Saudis were beheaded by the sword yesterday after one was convicted of
murdering a compatriot and the other was found guilty of raping a young
girl, the interior ministry said.

Aaed bin Ajab Al Qahtani was convicted of shooting dead Moataz Shagmoom Al
Shibani during a fight with a friend of the victim, the ministry said in a
statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

Fahed Abdullah Al Bureidi was found guilty of "sexual assault in a
repulsive manner" against an underage girl, it said in a separate
statement.

Bureidi, who was caught in possession of a narcotic substance, also had a
criminal record which included 2 cases of sodomy-one involving a minor
boy-and 8 thefts, SPA added.

Their executions took to 121 the number of people put to death by Saudi
Arabia this year, already outstripping the previous record of 113 during
all of 2000.

Executions are usually carried out in public in Saudi Arabia. Rape,
murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking can all carry the
death penalty in the oil-rich kingdom.

(source: AFP)