two Saudis and three Yemenis were beheaded by the sword in Saudi Arabia on after they were convicted of murder, the interior ministry said.

“Will the death penalty be among the main issues raised by the Italian government at the UN General Assembly?”.

Kyrgyzstan's Deputy Justice Minister says his country will soon abolish the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment.

two Iranian men convicted of murder were hanged in a Tehran prison.

a Yemeni convicted of raping a woman expatriate in Saudi Arabia was beheaded by the sword in the capital Riyadh.

a Yemen national was beheaded with a sword in southern Saudi Arabia after being convicted of drug smuggling.

Egypt's state security court sentenced three people to death during a court hearing over involvement in a series of blasts targeting Red Sea holiday resorts.

three drug traffickers were executed by firing squad in Ho Chi Minh City for smuggling over 800kg of heroin, the biggest-ever drug haul in Vietnam.

a border guard officer has been beheaded for drug trafficking, press reports said. Khalaf bin Faheed al-Inizi was found guilty of smuggling a large quantity amphetamines.

Iraq executed 27 "terrorists" convicted by Iraqi courts of killings and rapes in several provinces. The 27 were executed in Baghdad, the government's media office said in a brief statement. It did not provide any further details.

Rwanda will pass a law ending capital punishment by December 2006 to encourage European countries to extradite suspected masterminds of the genocide that occurred in the country in 1994. Unless the country abolishes capital punishment, it will not be able to try in its own national courts the masterminds of the genocide, Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama said.

Indonesia's Supreme Court has increased the sentences for four Australians convicted of drug smuggling in Bali to the death penalty, officials said.