SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi beheaded for killing his mother, 3 siblings and Pakistani

A Saudi man convicted of stabbing to death his mother, 2 half-brothers, a half-sister and a Pakistani man was beheaded by the sword Tuesday in the southern city of Abha, the interior ministry said.

 Eid bin Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Assiri killed his mother Zahra Zafer Abdullah, his 2 half-brothers Ibrahim and Abdulrahman, half-sister Fatima and Pakistani national Mohammad Aslam Mohammad Fadel, the ministry said, quoted by the official SPA agency.

 The statement did not say why the man killed the 5 people or give their ages.

 The beheading took to 9 the number of executions in Saudi Arabia this year, according to interior ministry statements monitored by AFP.

 The kingdom applies a strict form of sharia, or Islamic law, imposing the death penalty for murder, rape, apostasy, armed robbery, drug trafficking and repeated drug use.

 In 2001, at least 81 people were executed.