MAN BEHEADED FOR RAPE

A SAUDI man convicted of rape and armed robbery was beheaded by the sword in Riyadh today, the interior ministry announced.

Mohammed bin Hamad bin Saud al-Dusri was convicted of several armed robberies in the capital and of rape, the ministry was quoted by state news agency Spa as saying.

Dusri's execution brought to 60 the number announced by Saudi Arabia this year.

Last year, a record 153 people were executed in the Gulf kingdom, which applies a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law. This figure compared with 37 beheaded in 2006, and the previous record number of 113 executions in 2000.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking can all carry the death penalty in the ultra-conservative country, where executions are usually carried out in public.

SAUDI FACTS:

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the largest country on the Arabian Peninsula.

It has an estimated population of 27.5 million, and its size is approximately 2,150,000 square km (830,000 square miles)

The Kingdom is sometimes called "The Land of The Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Mecca and Medina, the two holiest places in Islam.

The Kingdom was founded by Abdul-Aziz bin Saud, whose efforts began in 1902 when he captured the Al-Saud’s ancestral home of Riyadh, and culminated in 1932 with the proclamation, and recognition of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is the world's leading petroleum exporter and petroleum exports fuel the Saudi economy. Oil accounts for more than 90 percent of exports and nearly 75 percent of government revenues, facilitating the creation of a welfare state.