Iranian Protesters Arrested At Saudi Embassy In Tehran

Denouncing Nimr’s death sentence, the Leader said the Shia cleric had neither called for armed rebellion nor tried covert sedition against the Saudi regime, but publically criticized it.

The executions stirred sectarian anger across the Middle East.

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, one of the most senior clerics in Iran, said in an interview with the Mehr news agency that Nimr’s execution reflected the “criminal” nature of the Saudi ruling family.

Shortly afterwards, Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling for calm and urging protesters to respect the diplomatic premises, the Entekhab news website reported.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Hossein Jaber Ansari, accused Saudi Arabia of executing opponents of terrorism.

The wave of condemnation could harm Saudi Arabia’s efforts to form an Islamic alliance against the jihadist militants of Islamic State.

Fierce regional rivals, Tehran and Riyadh now support opposing sides in ongoing conflicts in both Syria and Yemen.

Protesters clashed with police in Srinagar on Sunday after several thousand demonstrators took to the streets to rally against the recent execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Germany does not allow the death penalty.

Spokesperson for the US Bureau of Public Affairs in a statement.

Rights group Amnesty International said it appeared the kingdom was “using execution to settle political scores”.

The chanted that Nimr al-Nimr is “our martyr”. His execution has sparked outrage among Shiites across the region.

“But Rouhani criticised Saudi Arabia for killing Nimr”. “Saudi will not pass through this maelstrom”.

Shiite leaders in Iran and other countries across the region swiftly condemned Riyadh and warned of sectarian backlash as Saudi Arabia insisted the executions were part of a justified war on terrorism. And prominent Iraqi Shiite lawmaker Khalaf Abdelsamad called for the closure of Riyadh’s embassy and urged the government to expel its ambassador.

A view of Saudi Arabia’s embassy after a demonstration at in Tehran January 3, 2016. The kingdom closed the embassy in 1990, after Saddam Hussein ordered an invasion of Kuwait.

“There is huge popular pressure on the government to punish those people”, said Mustafa Alani, a security analyst close to the Saudi Interior Ministry.

He died on Saturday alongside 46 terrorism convicts.

It says one of the dissidents, Ali al-Ribh, was 18 when he was arrested in 2012, and another, Mohammed al-Shuyokh, was 19.

Executions have soared in the country since King Salman ascended the throne a year ago, with 153 people put to death in 2015, almost twice as many as in 2014.

The protests also spread to Europe. They added the Kingdom has the right to practice its sovereignty and power on its citizens and apply the law strictly on those who threaten the security, safety and stability of innocent people.

In retaliation to the state executions people on social media started sharing cartoons mocking the Saudi regime’s membership of the United Nations human rights council.

Lebanon’s Supreme Islamic Shi’ite Council called the execution of cleric Nimr al-Nimr a “grave mistake”, and the Hezbollah group termed it an assassination.

Al-Nimr’s brother told the AP by telephone that the executions came as a “big shock” because “we thought the authorities could adopt a political approach to settle matters without bloodshed”. The family had hoped to bury his body in his hometown.

Meanwhile, Al-Nimr’s supporters in eastern Saudi Arabia prepared for three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya, some 390 kilometers (240 miles) northeast from the capital, Riyadh, in the kingdom’s al-Qatif region.

The regional heavyweights are known for their rivalry, but the execution of Shia religious leader Nimr al-Nimr and Faris al-Zahrani, an al-Qaeda convict, have escalated differences between the two countries.