A Saudi woman was beheaded after being convicted of practicing "witchcraft and sorcery," according to the Saudi Interior Ministry, at least the second such execution for sorcery this year. 
 
 The woman, Amina bint Abdulhalim Nassar, was executed in the northern Saudi province of al-Jawf on Monday. 
 
 A source close to the Saudi religious police told Arab newspaper al Hayat that authorities who searched Nassar's home found a book about witchcraft, 35 veils and glass bottles full of "an unknown liquid used for sorcery" among her possessions. According to reports, authorities said Nassar claimed to be a healer and would sell a veil and three bottles for 1500 riyals, or about $400. 
 
 According to the ministry, Nassar's death sentence was upheld by an appeals court and the Saudi Supreme Judicial Council. 
 
 Philip Luther, the interim direct of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa program, condemned Nassar's killing, calling it "deeply shocking." 
 
 "The charges of 'witchcraft and sorcery' are not defined as crimes in Saudi Arabia and to use them to subject someone to the cruel and extreme penalty of execution is truly appalling," Luther said. 
 
 Luther said that a charge of sorcery is often used by the Saudi government as a smokescreen under which they punish people for exercising freedom of speech. 
 
 Nassar was not the first person to be executed for alleged witchcraft by the Saudi government this year. In September, a Sudanese man was publicly decapitated with a sword in the city of Medina after he was found guilty of the same crime. 
 
 According to Amnesty International, at least 79 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia so far in 2011, more than three times as many as in 2010. The human rights group condemned the kingdom's reliance on capital punishment. 
 
 "Where the death penalty is used, under international law it should only be applied to the most serious crimes," Luther said. 
 
 The Saudi embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 
 
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 Amnesty International confirmed that Saudi national Amina bin Salem Nasser was executed on Monday in the northern province of al-Jawf on charges of "witchcraft and sorcery" . 
 
 The London-based human rights watchdog condemned Monday's execution as "truly appalling," and called on the conservative kingdom to urgently halt the practice. 
 
 It is not clear how many women have been executed in the desert-kingdom, but another woman was beheaded in October for killing her husband by setting his house on fire. 
 
 Amnesty International said beheading took to 73 the number of executions in Saudi Arabia this year. 
 
 "The charges of 'witchcraft and sorcery' are not defined as crimes in Saudi Arabia ", said Philip Luther, Amnesty's interim director of the Middle East and North Africa. 
 
 "To use them to subject someone to the cruel and extreme penalty of execution is truly appalling," he added in a statement, which stressed the "urgent need" to stop executions. 
 
 Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law. 
 
 Luther described as "deeply disturbing" the huge rise in the number of executions in Saudi Arabia. 
 
 Many of those executed have had no defence lawyer and are not informed about the legal proceedings against them, according to Amnesty. 
 
 "While we don't know the details of the acts which the authorities accused Amina of committing, the charge of sorcery has often been used in Saudi Arabia to punish people, generally after unfair trials, for exercising their right to freedom of speech or religion," Luther said. 
 
 Earlier this month, Amnesty accused the oil-rich kingdom of conducting a campaign of repression against protesters and reformists since the Arab Spring erupted 12 months ago. 
 
 The rights group said Saudi Arabia was one of a minority of states which voted against a UN General Assembly resolution last December calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions. 
 
 Amnesty says Saudi Arabia executed 27 convicts in 2010, compared to 67 executions announced the year before.
– It sounds like something out of the wrong century, but Amnesty International finds itself condemning Saudi Arabia for beheading a woman accused of being a witch. Amina bin Salem Nasser was decapitated yesterday after being convicted on charges of "witchcraft and sorcery," though the government didn't spell out exactly what she did through her alleged magic, reports the Telegraph. ABC News reports, via a source who talked to an Arab newspaper, that police said Nasser claimed to be a healer, and had a witchcraft book and liquid-filled glass bottles, ostensibly used for sorcery, in her home. Amnesty called the execution "truly appalling" and suggested it might have more to do with freedom than witchcraft. "While we don't know the details of the acts which the authorities accused Amina of committing, the charge of sorcery has often been used in Saudi Arabia to punish people, generally after unfair trials, for exercising their right to freedom of speech or religion," says an Amnesty official.