RIYADH — Three Sri Lankans found guilty of robbing and killing a citizen as well as an Egyptian convicted of murder in a separate case were executed on Monday, the Interior Ministry said. The three Sri Lankans were convicted of breaking into a Saudi man's home, striking him on the head and suffocating him before stealing money, the ministry said in a statement posted on the official SPA news agency website. They were beheaded in Jeddah, it said. In a separate statement, the ministry said that authorities in Eastern Province also executed an Egyptian man convicted of stabbing and strangling to death a fellow citizen after an argument. Under the Kingdom's Islamic shariah legal code, murder, armed robbery, rape, drug trafficking and apostasy are all punishable by death. The Interior Ministry has cited deterrence as a reason for carrying out the punishments. — SG
