Saudi man beheaded for murder of compatriot

A Saudi citizen was beheaded on Thursday after he was convicted of murder, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

Hamad Al Shahrani, who was found guilty of stabbing another man several times with a knife, was executed in the Aseer region in the southwest of the country.

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