Beheading of the criminals with a sword or axe was a common practice by all ancient civilizations for thousands of years. Beheading was widely used in Europe, Asia and Africa (Muslim and non-Muslim alike) until the very early 20th century, and only recently entire civilized world have abandoned this ancient cruel practice of capital punishment. But this barbaric ancient practice still exists in the Muslim world only. Among them are-Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Yemen and Iran and erstwhile Talebani Afghanistan. Beheadings have ... occurred (perpetrated by the Jihadis in the recent past) in Algeria, Nigeria, Kashmir, Chechnya and the Muslim-dominated southern Philippines. Iranian mullahs have cut off the heads of some political figures.