Saudi Arabia Executes Killer, Syrian Drug Smuggler

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday executed a Saudi who killed a man in a tribal feud as well as a Syrian drug smuggler, the ministry of interior announced.

"Humam Eid al-Kindar, a Syrian, was arrested for smuggling 169,000 banned pills," state news agency SPA quoted a ministry statement as saying.

Kindar was beheaded by the sword in the kingdom's northern province of Jawf, it said.

The statement added that Saeed al-Ahmari, a Saudi, was convicted of shooting dead fellow citizen Ali al-Ahmar at a police station during a tribal feud. He was executed in the southwestern city of Abha.

The beheadings bring to 13 the number of people executed in Saudi Arabia since the beginning of the year, according to an Agence France Presse tally based on official reports.

Rights group Amnesty International said the kingdom executed 79 people in 2011.

The ultra-conservative kingdom applies the death penalty for a wide range of offences, including rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking.