RIYADH: Saudi Arabia executed a convicted Jordanian drug smuggler that is 18 executions in the kingdom this year.
Authorities carried out the sentence against Mohammed Salamah Fareeh al-Azazma in the northwestern Jawf region after he was found guilty of “smuggling a large amount of amphetamines,” the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
The punishment confirms the government’s commitment “to fight all type of drugs due to the physical dangers they pose to the individual and society,” it said.
Saudi Arabia has faced constant international criticism over its human rights record, including the use of the death penalty.
Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under the country’s strict version of Islamic sharia law.
The kingdom executed 87 people last year, according to an AFP tally.
