FromThe BBC
A human rights group says executions are surging in Saudi Arabia, and those most likely to face death by the sword are migrant workers and poor Saudis.
Amnesty International says these groups are executed disproportionately and indiscriminately because they are unable to use the "blood money" system.
Foreigners and some nationals lack family and other ties that save rich or well-connected citizens, Amnesty says.
Amnesty's report - Affront to justice: Death penalty in Saudi Arabia - says there has been a sharp increase in executions in the last two years in the conservative Muslim kingdom.
In some cases, execution is followed by crucifixion, Amnesty says in its report.
Saudi officials were not immediately available to comment. They routinely defend beheadings as a quick and clean form of execution sanctioned by the Islamic faith.
Amnesty's report says capital trials are often held secretly and non-Arabic speaking foreign nationals are unable to understand proceedings because they are routinely denied access to a lawyer.
In some cases, Amnesty says, they have no idea they have even been convicted.
After conviction, the legal system allows victim's families to forgive murderers, often after the payment of diya, or "blood money".
While pardons are sometimes granted, Saudi nationals are eight times more likely to escape execution than foreigners through this system.
Correspondents say Saudi nationals who are executed often come from remote tribal areas.