A top Saudi official has insisted there are differences between the country's practice of public beheadings and the executions carried out by ISIS militants, NBC News reported. Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki told NBC News that Saudi criminal punishments were legitimate because they were based on "a decision made by a court" rather than ISIS' "arbitrary" killings. "When you kill somebody without legitimate basis, without justice system, without court, that is still a crime whether you behead them or kill [them] with a gun," al-Turki said, referring to killings by the Islamist militant group. Saudi Arabia came under increased scrutiny by the United Nations and human rights groups last year after the kingdom upped its rate of executions to one per day in August.
