SAUDIS BEHEAD DRUG DEALER

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - A Pakistani convicted of drug trafficking was
beheaded in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, the Interior Ministry said.

Sayf Al-Rahman Abdul-Jabar was found guilty of smuggling an unspecified
quantity of heroin into the kingdom and was beheaded in the Saudi capital
Riyadh, the ministry said in a statement.

Thursday's beheading was at least the 125th in Saudi Arabia this year. At
least 99 people were beheaded last year. The record number of beheadings in
one year in Saudi Arabia was 191 in 1995.

Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islamic law that prescribes
the death sentence for murder, rape, drug trafficking and armed robbery.
Human rights organizations maintain Saudi Arabia often fails to give
defendants fair trials and point out that Islam calls for limiting the use
of capital punishment.

Saudi officials criticize such human rights allegations as anti-Islam
campaigns.