Saudi executes Yemeni for killing officer

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday executed a Yemeni convicted of shooting dead a security officer who was trying to arrest him in the southern Jazan region, the interior ministry said.

The Yemeni, who was wanted by the kingdom’s authorities, opened fire at the Saudi officer who was trying to arrest him, said the statement published by the official SPA news agency.

It provided no further details.

The execution brings to 121 the number for this year in the kingdom, compared with 87 for the whole of 2014, according to AFP tallies.

Amnesty International says Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s most prolific executioners, along with China, Iran, Iraq and the United States.

Under the conservative kingdom’s strict Islamic sharia legal code, murder, armed robbery, rape, drug trafficking and apostasy are all punishable by death.

Executions in Saudi Arabia are almost always carried out by beheading.

The interior ministry has cited deterrence as a reason for carrying out the punishments but rights experts have raised concerns about the fairness of trials in the kingdom.