SAUDI ARABIA. THREE BEHEADED FOR MURDER, RAPE

Saudi Arabian authorities beheaded three people for murder and rape, the Interior Ministry announced. The ministry said Nashaat Ben Suleiman Ben Ahmedhaji and his wife Iman Bent Ali Ghazawi were beheaded after being convicted of killing Ahmedhaji's daughter from a first marriage, according to a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. The statement said the couple tortured and burned 9 year old Ghosson Ahmedhaji because her father had suspicions that she wasn't his legitimate daughter.
Adel al-Hathrami was beheaded after being convicted of raping a teenage boy. The ministry did not give further details.
The latest beheadings brought to seven the number of executions announced in Saudi Arabia this year.
Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking can all carry the death penalty in the ultra-conservative Gulf country, where executions are usually carried out in public.