Saudi executes three Pakistani nationals, brings 2017 beheading toll to 26

‘Saudi Arabia has beheaded three Pakistani nationals after sentencing them to death on charges related to drug trafficking, bringing to 26 the number of executions in the kingdom this year.
The convicted Pakistani men, identified as Mohammed Ashraf Shafi Mohammed, Mohammed Aref Mohammed Anayt and Mohammed Afdal Asghar Ali were beheaded on Sunday, state-run SPA news agency reported.
According to the agency, the three had been found guilty of “smuggling quantities of heroin in their stomachs”.
Saudi Arabia carried out 153 executions across the kingdom last year. In the most stunning case of executions in 2016, Saudi Arabia executed on January 2 Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr along 46 other people in defiance of international calls for the release of the prominent Shia cleric and other jailed political dissidents in the kingdom.’
Read more: Saudi executes three Pakistani nationals, brings 2017 beheading toll to 26