Yemen publicly executes barber

updated 6:59 p.m. ET July 6, 2009

SAN'A, Yemen - The Yemen news agency reports that a barber has been publicly executed after he was found guilty of raping and killing an 11-year-old boy who came to his shop for a haircut.

Pictures of the execution Monday in the capital of San'a showed hundreds of people gathered around as Yehya Hussein was killed.

The pictures showed the barber lying face down on a large piece of red cloth, his hands bound behind him, as a Yemeni police official stood over him with what appeared to be a machine gun and shot him four times.

According to the news agency, SAB'A, the barber was arrested in December 2008 and confessed during a January trial to raping the boy inside his salon, killing him and cutting his body to pieces before dumping it outside San'a.

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