Saudi Arabia executes US national convicted of killing Egyptian father

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday executed a US national convicted of torturing and killing his father, state media reported, bringing to at least 19 the number of foreigners put to death this year.

The death sentence for Bishoy Sharif Naji Naseef was carried out in the Riyadh region, the official Saudi Press Agency said.

The Gulf kingdom is frequently criticised for its prolific use of capital punishment, which human rights groups say undermines its bid to soften its image through a sweeping "Vision 2030" social and economic reform agenda.

A court found that Naseef, whose age was not given, beat and strangled his Egyptian father to death and mutilated him after he died, and that he also used drugs and attempted to kill another person, SPA said.

The mode of execution was not specified, but Saudi Arabia has in the past often used beheading when implementing the death penalty.

Riyadh's ally the United States did not immediately comment on the execution.

"We are aware of those reports and are monitoring the situation but don't have any specifics," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.

He said a US consular official last visited Naseef in July.

Saudi Arabia was the world's third most prolific executioner last year, Amnesty International has said.

More than 1,000 death sentences have been carried out since King Salman assumed power in 2015, according to a report published earlier this year by the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights and the Britain-based group Reprieve.

A total of 91 people -- 19 of them foreigners -- have been executed so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on state media reports.

As well as the US national, those put to death came from countries including Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Jordan, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and Yemen.

Last year's announced figure of 147 executions was more than double the 2021 figure of 69.

Executions for drug crimes resumed in 2022, ending a moratorium that lasted for almost three years.

The 2022 total included 81 people put to death on a single day for offences related to "terrorism", an episode that sparked an international outcry.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, King Salman's son and the de facto ruler, has said on multiple occasions that the kingdom was reducing executions.

In a transcript of an interview with The Atlantic magazine published by state media in March 2022, Prince Mohammed said the kingdom had "got rid of" the death penalty except for cases of murder or when someone "threatens the lives of many people".