Saudi Arabia has on Sunday executed three Somali nationals convicted of smuggling hashish into the kingdom, the Interior Ministry said, as the Gulf state continues to carry out capital punishment for drug-related offences despite mounting criticism from human rights groups. In a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the ministry identified the three men as Ahmed Adan Abdi Ibrahim, Ahmed Mahmoud Ismail Abdirahman and Mahmoud Abdirahman Ibrahim Hassan.

The ministry said the men were arrested after security authorities uncovered the smuggling operation and were referred to a competent court, which convicted them and sentenced them to death. The verdicts were upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court before a royal order authorized the executions.

The executions were carried out on Sunday in the southern Najran region, according to the statement.

Relatives of the prisoners told local media that some of the Somali nationals had entered Saudi Arabia through Yemen as migrants and were later deceived into transporting narcotics into the kingdom.

The Interior Ministry said Saudi authorities would continue combating drug trafficking and smuggling, warning that anyone involved in such crimes would face the penalties prescribed under the law.

The executions come as Saudi Arabia has sharply increased its use of capital punishment.

According to rights group Amnesty International, the kingdom had carried out nearly 100 executions by June this year, including 61 for drug-related offences, 39 of which involved foreign nationals.