Capital Punishment

International civil rights organizations, along with the UN , castigate the US and Israel every year ..... Human rights abuses of prisoners in both countries and the use and legality of captial punishment in the U.S.

But the rate of capital deaths per capita seems much higher here and the deaths are public. Will there be worldwide demonstrations and condemnation about the Saudi rules?

Saudis behead Indonesian maid

• Story Highlights
• Indonesian maid had been convicted of strangling her employer to death
  
• Official: Maid had used a pillow to suffocate employer and stole her jewelry
  
• Saudi Arabia beheaded 137 people last year, up sharply from the 38 in 2006

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- Saudi authorities on Saturday beheaded an Indonesian maid convicted of killing her employer, the Interior Ministry announced.

In a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, the ministry said the maid used a pillow to suffocate her employer Aisha Al Makhaled and then stole her jewelry in the southern province of Asir.

Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam under which those convicted of murder, drug trafficking, rape and armed robbery are executed in public with a sword.

The maid is the second person to be executed this year in the desert kingdom, according to an Associated Press count.

Saudi Arabia beheaded 137 people last year, up sharply from the 38 in 2006.