RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Sunday beheaded a Nigerian convicted of killing a policeman, despite arguments that death penalty violates fundamental rights.
Fahd Houssawi (pictured right) was beheaded in the western city of Taif, after he had been found guilty of strangling a policeman and beating him to death, said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
Houssawi’s execution was the 95th this year in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, which imposes the death penalty for offences including murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy.
Amnesty International had recently decried rise in global death penalty, blaming the kingdom, Iran, Pakistan and the secretive China for the rise.
Saudi Arabia Advertises for New Killers to Carry out Public Beheading
The London-based watchdog said the executions in Saudi Arabia this year are higher than at the same point last year.
Murder and drug trafficking cases account for the majority of Saudi executions, although 47 people were put to death for “terrorism” offences on a single day in January.
They included prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr whose execution prompted Iranian protesters to torch Saudi diplomatic missions, triggering a severing of relations.
