Two Pakistanis beheaded for drug trafficking in Saudi Arabia

JEDDAH (Saudi Arabia): Two Pakistani nationals were beheaded by the sword on Wednesday after being convicted of smuggling drugs into the Saudi kingdom, the interior ministry said.

Nour Wali Khan Moemen was caught smuggling an undisclosed amount of heroin in his stomach, the ministry said in a statement carried by the SPA state news agency. 

Fellow Pakistani Ali Anwar Mohammed was also convicted of drug trafficking after being caught trading in hashish and in possession of an undisclosed amount of heroin, it added.

They were both executed in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah. Their beheadings brought to four the number of announced executions in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom in 2007, after at least 37 in 2006.

At least 83 were put to death in 2005 and 35 the year before, according to counts based on official statements.

Executions are generally carried out in public in the oil-rich kingdom, which applies a strict form of Islamic law.

The death penalty is applied for murder, rape, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking.