Saudi executes 3 men for murder, drug smuggling

RIYADH, May 13 (Reuters) Saudi Arabia executed three men today for murder and smuggling drugs into the conservative Muslim country.

Mifrih bin Ahmad Aseeri, a Saudi national, was executed in Aseer for stabbing to death another Saudi man in an argument, the state news agency SPA said.

Nasser Khan Fatah Khan and Abdul-Rashid Musharraf, Pakistanis, were put to death in Jeddah for bringing in heroin which was concealed in their stomachs.

The executions brought to at least 58 the number of people put to death in the country this year.

The sentences, usually carried out through public beheadings, apply to those convicted of drug trafficking, rape, murder and other violent crimes.

Human rights groups say the punishment is draconian and reflects old customs. Saudi Arabia, which beheaded 38 people last year and 83 people in 2005, says it is strictly following the rules of Islamic law.

Reuters DS GC1556