Riyadh: Saudi Arabia on Wednesday executed an Egyptian convicted of murder, adding to a surge in death sentences carried out since late 2014.
Mahmud Jumaa Morsi was found guilty of fatally strangling and robbing a Saudi, the interior ministry said, adding that he was executed in Riyadh.
Most executions in Saudi Arabia are done by beheading with a sword.
Fifty-four people have been put to death already this year by the kingdom, including 47 in a single day on January 2 for "terrorism".
New York-based Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged the country to abolish its "ghastly" beheadings.
"Saudi Arabia made positive changes for women and foreign workers in 2015, but these steps were overshadowed by its continued use of cruel punishments such as flogging and beheading," HRW's Sarah Leah Whitson said as the watchdog released its 2016 world report.
"Saudi Arabia should reform its justice system and halt these ghastly punishments."
Last year the kingdom executed 153 people, mostly for drug trafficking or murder, according to an AFP tally.
Amnesty International says the number of executions in Saudi Arabia in 2015 was the highest for two decades.
The kingdom practises a strict Islamic legal code under which murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.
AFP
