Rights group Amnesty International has expressed their opinion on Saudi Arabia's beheading of a woman found guilty on charges of "sorcery and witchcraft" as "deeply shocking," saying it emphasized the urgent need to end executions in the kingdom.

Saudi resident Amina bint Abdul Halim bin Salem Nasser was put to death on Monday in the northern province of al-Jawf after being put on trial and convicted for practicing sorcery, the interior ministry said, exclusive of giving details of the charges.

"The citizen... practiced acts of witchcraft and sorcery. The death sentence was carried out on the accused yesterday (Monday) in the Qurayyat district in al-Jawf region," Saudi newspaper al-Watan cited the interior ministry as saying.

Saudi Arabia which operates under an absolute monarchy has no printed criminal code; in its place, they use texts based on an uncodified form of Islamic sharia law as translated by the country's judges.

"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," Philip Luther, intervening director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa program, said in a statement.

Amnesty said that the death sentence was the second of its nature in recent months. A Sudanese citizen was beheaded in the Saudi city of Medina in September after being condemned on sorcery charges, according to the London-based group.

Amnesty has reported a total of 79 executions in Saudi Arabia so far this year; that's nearly triple the figure in 2010-a development that Human Rights advocates are keen to see go down. As of late, no representatives from the country have stepped forward to make a statement on this deeply upsetting situation.