Saudi Arabia beheads Turk for drug trafficking

RIYADH - Agence France-Presse

Ali Ağırdaş's mother mourns her son. Ağırdaş had been convicted of receiving a 'large amount of drugs,' according to Saudi state sources.

Saudi Arabia on Nov. 20 beheaded a Turkish man convicted of drug trafficking, the interior ministry said, in the latest execution in the ultra-conservative Gulf kingdom.

Ali Ağırdaş had been convicted of receiving a "large amount of drugs" and was executed in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the ministry said in a statement.

His execution brings to 70 the number of Saudis and foreigners beheaded in the kingdom this year, according to an AFP count, despite international concern.

Rape, murder, apostasy, drug trafficking and armed robbery are all punishable by death under the kingdom's strict version of Islamic sharia law.