SAUDI ARABIA: Jordanian beheaded for armed robbery in Saudi Arabia

A Jordanian man convicted of armed robbery was beheaded by the sword in Riyadh on Sunday, the Saudi interior ministry said.

 Hussein Ahmad al-Ramahi had been sentenced to death for "opening fire on employees of a money exchange office before making away with a big sum," said a ministry statement quoted by the official SPA news agency.

 Ramahi also fired on policemen who chased him before being captured, the statement added.

 This takes to 6 the number of executions reported in Saudi Arabia this year, according to interior ministry statements monitored by AFP. 

Saudi Arabia 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 in the kingdom, home to Islam's holiest sites.