Saudi Arabia beheading by sword, executes 12 people in 10 daysSaudi Arabia: With this the total number of people executed this year to at least 132, exceeding those of 2020 and 2021 combined.The spate of executions, most of which are beheadings with a sword, suggests that the country is on track for a record year of executions despite Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman previously vowing to reduce such punishments.Read more: Taliban admits whipping 19, including women, 39 times each for ‘crimes’The defendants were sentenced to death after being imprisoned on non-violent drug charges and included three Pakistanis, four Syrians, two Jordanians and three Saudis, Telegraph reported.In 2020, there were further hints of a softening on non-violent crime after Saudi Arabia proposed to change the law to end the death penalty after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.Read more: Russia's most active volcano could burst into ‘powerful eruption’ any timeKhashoggi was killed and dismembered by a Saudi hit squad in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate in October 2018."