Saudi beheads man for murder

Riyadh : A Saudi man convicted of shooting dead a compatriot in a dispute was beheaded by the sword today, the interior ministry said. Mohammed bin Khamees al-Hantushi al-Enzi was found guilty of killing Ibrahim bin Marfu al-Enzi, the ministry said in a statement carried by the SPA state news agency. His execution in the northeastern city of Hafr al-Batin brings to 12 the number of death sentences carried out this year in the ultra-conservative kingdom. Saudi Arabia beheaded 78 people in 2013, according to an AFP count. Last year, the UN High Commission for Human Rights denounced a “sharp increase in the use of capital punishment” since 2011 in Saudi Arabia.