A Saudi man was beheaded for murder on Friday. Othman al-Balawi was executed in the northwestern city of Tabuk, an Interior Ministry statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency said.

He had been sentenced to death for stabbing to death fellow Saudi Ahmed Al-Atawi following a dispute.

His execution came hours after another Saudi, Fahad Al-Khalidi, was beheaded in the eastern port city of Jubail for the shooting death of fellow national, Abdulrahman Al-Qahtani.

The latest beheadings bring to 37 the number of executions carried out in Saudi Arabia this year, according to an AFP tally. Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under the Kingdom's law.