Beheadings in Saudi Arabia, Execution Delay in Texas

(Dammam, Saudi Arabia) In accordance with strict Sharia Law, two Pakistani drug traffickers were beheaded yesterday.

Shirzada Sahib Zada was convicted of smuggling heroin into the kingdom while Yusuf Khan Noor Muhammad was found guilty of taking delivery and selling the drugs, the ministry said in a statement quoted by official news agency SPA.

The beheadings bring to 68 the number of executions announced by Saudi Arabia this year.

Convictions for rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery or drug trafficking can result in beheading. Last year, the Saudis lopped 153 heads in accordance with Islamic law.

(Houston, Texas) Meanwhile, in a high-profile case in Texas, the execution of Jeffrey Lee Wood was put off for at least six months by U.S District Judge Orlando Luis Garcia because Wood's actions suggest he doesn't understand why he is being executed.

Death penalty opponents, Human Rights Watch and the Death Penalty Information Center, contend Wood's execution would be violating the most basic principles of justice since he was an accomplice to a murder and didn't kill anyone himself.

It would seem fair for death penalty opponents to spend equal effort trying to stop Islamic executions.