Jordanian executed in Saudi Arabia for murder

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia executed two convicted murderers on Thursday, one of whom was a Jordanian, bringing to 78 the number of death sentences it has carried out this year.

Jordanian Ammar Al Sager was found guilty of stabbing Saudi citizen Osama Al Bukhaitan to death, the Saudi interior ministry said.

Turki Al Gahtani was convicted of shooting dead fellow Saudi tribesman Ghanem Al Gahtani during a dispute, said a ministry statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

Both executions were carried out in the Eastern Province city of Dammam.

Most people put to death 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.

Human rights group Amnesty International says the number of executions in Saudi Arabia last year was the highest for two decades.

Saudi Arabia has a strict Islamic legal code under which murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.