TWO EXECUTED IN SAUDI ARABIA

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia on Friday beheaded a Saudi man
for raping boys and an Indian for drug trafficking, the Interior
Ministry said.

In the capital Riyadh, Saudi citizen Dowaihi bin Mohammed al-Qahtani
was executed after he was convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping
and raping boys, the ministry said in a statement carried by the
official Saudi Press Agency.

Seyed bin Mahboub Amir, from India, was executed in Riyadh for
smuggling an unspecified quantity of heroin into the kingdom,
according to the statement.

Friday's executions bring to at least 74 the number of people
beheaded this year in the kingdom, where executions are carried out
in public with a sword. Last year, 125 people were beheaded.

Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam that demands
the death penalty for murder, rape, drug trafficking and armed
robbery.