All of us were appalled by the merciless acts of the Islamic militants who beheaded several foreign citizens in the Arabian peninsula last year. The most horrific thing about these acts is this form of punishment is actually legalized in a few nations nowadays. As of 2004, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran and Qatar had laws allowing decapitation but only Saudi Arabia was known to practice the sentence. Under the Islamic Sharia law, Saudi Arabia executes people convicted of murder, rape and drug smuggling, usually by decapitation. In the year 2002 alone, at least 45 convicts were beheaded in that country. What do you think about this brutal punishment? Is it barbaric and anachronistic to legalize and practise this act in this new century?