An Iraqi and Pakistani were beheaded on Saturday in Saudi Arabia after being convicted of drug trafficking, the interior ministry said in a statement. Matar bin Hussein bin Bakheit al-Khazaali, an Iraqi national, was executed in the northern town of Arar, after attempting to smuggle an undisclosed amount of hashish into the ultra-conservative kingdom, the statement carried by SPA official news agency said.

Meanwhile, Pakistani Mohammad Amin Abdullah Jan was beheaded in the Red Sea city of Jeddah after he was found smuggling an undisclosed amount of heroin "which he had swallowed".

Their executions are the first to be announced by Saudi authorities in the year 2005. Thirty five people were beheaded in 2004 according to an AFP tally based on official statements.

At least 52 people were executed in Saudi Arabia in 2003.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005