Saudi Arabia executes four people
Saudi Arabia has put to death four more people, including two foreign nationals.
Saudi officials said on Tuesday that a Qatari national, identified as Mohammed Jarboui, was executed in the eastern region of Ahsa after being convicted of murdering a Saudi.
The Saudi Interior Ministry said Abdallah Tayaha, a Jordanian, who was convicted of amphetamine trafficking, was put to death in the northwestern region of Jawf.
Two Saudi nationals, Sliman and Ahmed Messoudi, were also executed on similar convictions in the northern region of Tabuk.
The deaths bring the total number of people executed in 2016 in Saudi Arabia to 69.
On January 2, Riyadh put to death 47 people on terrorism charges, including the respected Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, sparking huge protests across the world.
Tallies gathered by reliable sources showed Saudis executed 153 people in 2015, putting the country atop the international rankings in using capital punishments. Riyadh says most of those executions were related to drug trafficking.
Human rights campaigners have criticized Riyadh for the rising number of death sentences.
Amnesty International said the number of executions in Saudi Arabia last year was the highest in two decades.
In its recent statements about the executions, the Saudi Interior Ministry blamed the rise in death sentences over drug trafficking to the unrest in Syria, saying the Arab country has become one of the biggest producers of the drug.
Riyadh has been viewed as a major supporter of militants operating against the government of President Bahsar al-Assad in Syria, with many blaming the Saudis for the insecurity in Syria.
A fifth convict was going to be executed in Saudi Arabia's southern region of Jazan on Tuesday following his conviction for murder.
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