SAUDI ARABIA CARRIES OUT FIRST EXECUTION OF 2017

January 17, 2017: Saudi Arabia carried out its first death sentence of the year, following more than 150 executions in 2016.
Mamdouh Al Anzi was sentenced to death following his conviction for shooting dead another Saudi in a dispute, the interior ministry said.
He was executed in Arar, a city near Iraq.
Beheading with a sword is the most common form of execution in the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia executed 153 locals and foreigners last year under its Islamic legal code, down slightly from the previous year when it carried out at least 158 executions, according to Amnesty International. (Source: Agence France-Presse, January 17, 2017)