RIYADH: Saudi authorities beheaded on Tuesday a Pakistani man convicted of smuggling drugs to the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, the interior ministry said.

The man, who has not yet been named, was found guilty of attempting to smuggle an undisclosed amount of heroin that he had swallowed, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

Om Nov 6 Saudi authorities beheaded a Pakistani man Jaafar Ghulam Ali in the eastern Qatif province after he was convicted of drug trafficking in the kingdom,

His beheading in the eastern city of Dammam brings to 72 the number of executions carried out in Saudi Arabia this year, according to an AFP count.

In 2012, the kingdom carried out 76 executions, according to a tally based on official figures. Human Rights Watch put the number at 69.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery, homosexuality, witchcraft and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under the oil-rich Gulf state’s strict version of sharia, or Islamic law.

Source: Agence France-Presse, November 26, 2013