RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (January 9, 2013)--A Sri Lankan domestic worker has been executed for killing a Saudi baby in her care in 2005, authorities said Wednesday, despite pleas for a reprieve.

The case spurred global appeals to call off the beheading of Rizana Nafeek because she was 17 at the time of the killing.

Rights groups called the death sentence a violation of international codes governing the rights of minors.

She had denied strangling the 4-month-old boy.

A statement Wednesday from the Saudi Interior Ministry said the execution was carried out, but it gave no other details.

Groups such as Human Rights Watch strongly condemned the execution.