Mecca thief has hand cut off

The interior ministry in Saudi Arabia says an Afghan man, found guilty of pickpocketing in Mecca's Grand Mosque, has had his right hand amputated in public.

The authorities say the man was caught stealing inside Islam's holiest shrine, and confessed his crime before Mecca's high court.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia follows a strict form of sharia, or Islamic law, that calls for amputation for crimes of theft.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service