Saudi woman executed for 'sorcery'

Amina bint Abdulhalim Nassar was executed in the northern province of Jawf for "practising witchcraft and sorcery," the Saudi interior ministry said.

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RIYADH // A Saudi woman was executed today after being convicted of practising sorcery, which is banned in the kingdom, the interior ministry said.

Amina bint Abdulhalim Nassar was executed in the northern province of Jawf for "practising witchcraft and sorcery," the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

The beheading took to 73 the number of executions in Saudi Arabia this year. It is not clear how many women have been executed, but another woman was beheaded in October for killing her husband by setting his house on fire.

In September, Amnesty International called on Saudi, where 140 people were on death row, to establish an "immediate moratorium on executions".

The rights group said Saudi Arabia was one of a minority of states which voted against a UN General Assembly resolution last December calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.

Amnesty said Saudi Arabia executed 27 prisoners in 2010, compared to 67 executions announced the year before.