Saudi Arabia executes rapist and drug dealer

RIYADH, Jan 17 (Reuters) Saudi Arabia today executed a Pakistani man for possessing and selling drugs and a Saudi national for raping minors, the Interior Ministry said.

A ministry statement published by the official news agency SPA identified the Pakistani as Ali bin Anwar bin Mohammed Mithel and said he was put to death in the city of Jeddah.

The agency said he was convicted of selling hashish and having an unspecified quantity of heroin.

The ministry said the Saudi, Ali bin Mohammed bin Heilan al-Harbi, was executed in the northern city of Buraida after being convicted of ''luring minors and raping them by force''.

The executions raised to four the number of people put to death in the kingdom so far this year.

Saudi Arabia follows strict Islamic law and executions are usually carried out by public beheading with a sword.

Convicted murderers, rapists and drug traffickers are liable for the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, but international human rights groups often criticise the desert kingdom over what they regard as draconian punishments.

The conservative state executed 34 people in 2006, 36 in 2005 and 86 in 2004.

Reuters MS DB1839