Saudi Arabia Plans to Replace the Law of Beheading With Firing Squads

Saudi Arabia plans to change the method of execution from beheadings to death by the firing squad due to a paucity of government swordsmen, according to Egyptian English-language news website, Ahram Online.

The Saudi committee, which is comprised of representatives from the Ministries of Interior, Justice and Health has concluded that replacing the law of beheading due to the shortage of government swordsmen with firing squads will not violate the Islamic law of justice, according to a report by Saudi daily newspaper al-Youm Sunday.

"This solution seems practical, especially in light of shortages in official swordsmen or their belated arrival to execution yards in some incidents; the aim is to avoid interruption of the regularly-taken security arrangements," the committee said in a statement.

Under the Saudi Arabia's strict Islamic law, the acts of rape, murder, armed robbery, drug trafficking and even suspected "sorcery" are punishable by death. Executing the convicts by beheading has long been a subject of contradiction among the human-rights activists.

According to the Human Rights Watch, an international organization that advocates for human-rights, 69 people were beheaded under the law of Saudi Kingdom in 2012 and another human-rights organization, Amnesty International, reported 79 were killed in 2012. A report from Ahram Online said three people have been killed this year.

The Saudi's law of execution by beheading was strongly opposed by the international community and made the headlines when the Kingdom ordered the death penalty for a Sri Lankan woman, Rizana Nafeek, 17, who was charged with murdering her employer's 4-month-old son in 2005.

According to a report from Arham Online, European Union approached the Saudi authorities to denounce the death penalty. But Riyadh rejected the plea claiming an "external interference" in its "domestic affairs."