Riyadh: Saudi Arabia on Tuesday executed one of its nationals convicted of drug trafficking, bringing to 71 the number of locals and foreigners put to death this year.
Abdullah Rouwaili had been found guilty of trafficking amphetamines and was put to death in the northern Tabuk region, the interior ministry said.
Most people executed in Saudi Arabia are beheaded with a sword.
The 71 executions so far this year include 47 death sentences for “terrorism” carried out in a single day on January 2.
In 2015, Saudi Arabia executed 153 people, most of them for drug trafficking or murder, according to an AFP count.
Rights group Amnesty International says the number of executions in Saudi Arabia last year was the highest for two decades.
However, the tally was far behind those of China and Iran.
The kingdom has a strict Islamic legal code under which murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.
Agence France-Presse