SAUDI ARABIA: CONVICTED DRUG SMUGGLER BEHEADED

January 30, 2012: In Saudi Arabia, a Pakistani man convicted of trying to smuggle drugs into the kingdom was beheaded.
The Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement that Salman Khan Taj Mohammed was put to death for attempting to smuggle what it described as "a large quantity of heroin" into Saudi Arabia.
The state-run Saudi news agency SPA said he had confessed to the crime, was convicted by a court, and the death sentence was approved by the Supreme Court.
The report said he was beheaded in Dammam in eastern Saudi Arabia.
Amnesty International said Saudi Arabia executed 79 people last year. (Sources: RadioFreeEurope, 30/01/2012)