RIYADH • An Egyptian man was beheaded in Saudi Arabia yesterday after he was convicted of practising witchcraft, the interior ministry said. Mustafa Ibrahim was executed in Riyadh after to confessing to "adultery with a woman" and to "insulting the Holy Quran," by "putting it in a toilet," the ministry said in a statement cited by the official SPA news agency.

It was a rare case of execution for such offences, which are not known to carry the death penalty in Saudi Arabia. Most executions are carried out for murder or drug trafficking.

The ministry said Ibrahim was exposed after a foreign resident sued him for practising sorcery aimed at causing him to split with his wife, and authorities found suspicious books and artifacts in his home.

Saudi Arabia has executed 141 people so far this year-the highest number on record. The previous highest number of executions in a year was in 2000, when 113 people were beheaded.

Apart from murder and drug trafficking, rape, apostasy and armed robbery can also carry the death penalty in the kingdom.