Saudi puts murderer to death in 72nd execution of 2016

Saudi Arabia executed one of its nationals convicted of murder on Sunday, bringing to 72 the number of people put to death in the kingdom this year.

Hadian al-Qahtani was found guilty of shooting dead Abdullah al-Qaoud following a dispute, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

Most people executed in Saudi Arabia are beheaded with a sword.

The executions so far this year include 47 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 legal code under which murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.