Saudi Arabia executes Nigerian for drug smuggling

RIYADH, Feb 23 (Reuters) Saudi Arabia executed a convicted Nigerian cocaine smuggler on Friday, the second Nigerian drug trafficker to be put to death this week in the conservative kingdom.

An Interior Ministry statement carried by state media said Mohammed Abdulfattah Adebayo was executed in the Red Sea city of Jeddah after being convicted of smuggling an unspecified quantity of the drug into Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia, which applies strict Islamic laws, on Sunday executed another Nigerian man for smuggling cocaine.

Today's execution raised to at least 18 the number of people put to death this year in the kingdom, where 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, which executed 34 people in 2006, 36 in 2005 and 86 in 2004.

REUTERS SAM RN0012