Saudi Arabia beheads killer for girl's murder

Saudi Arabia beheaded on Wednesday a man convicted of murdering a young female relative after sexually assaulting her, the interior ministry said.

Sami al-Mekhlafi took the girl to a deserted area before sexually assaulting and strangling her until she passed out, and then hit her on the head with a tent pole until she died, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

He was executed in the western city of Medina, bringing to three the number of executions in Saudi Arabia so far this year.

According to an AFP count, the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom carried out 76 executions last year.

Amnesty international has repeatedly called on Riyadh to impose a moratorium on executions.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.

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