‘Downfall’ of Saudi Arabia predicted as executions spark mass protests

Angry crowds of Iranian’s stormed the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Tehran on Sunday morning in protest of the kingdom’s execution of a top Shiite cleric.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called on Saudi Arabia’s western backers to directly condemn the execution, which came three years after Nimr was arrested following his vocal support for anti-government protests in Bahrain and Riyadh.

“The unjustly spilled blood of this oppressed martyr will no doubt soon show its effect and divine vengeance will befall Saudi politicians”, state TV reported Khamenei as saying.

Iranian protesters have set the Saudi Arabian embassy ablaze in reaction to this week’s mass execution, however it is not the first time a diplomatic mission has been attacked in Tehran.

It has threatened to further damage relations between the Sunni-ruled kingdom and its enemy Iran, which is a predominantly Shia nation. Some protesters threw stones & Molotov cocktails at the embassy, setting off a fire partially of the building, Sajedinia told the semi-official Tasnim news source agency.

Saudi Government on Sunday has gave just 24 hours to Iranian Diplomat in Saudi Arabia to leave the country, TheNewsTribe.com leearnt from global media.

The cleric’s name was on a list of the 47 carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

However, in what appeared to be a move to calm tensions, the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, said the attack on the embassy was unjustifiable, and urged that the perpetrators be dealt with.

Among those executed was Adel al-Dhubaiti, who was sentenced for the 2004 shooting that left freelance cameraman Simon Cumbers dead and BBC journalist Frank Gardner critically injured.

In Iraq, Shiite leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani also condemned the killing.

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.

Nimr was among a group of 47 Shiites and Sunnis executed on Saturday on charges of terrorism.

In al-Daih, west of the capital, Shiite protesters chanted against Saudi Arabia’s ruling Al Saud family, as well as against Bahrain’s ruling Al Khalifa family.

The US also urged Riyadh to “respect and protect” human rights, said State Department spokesman John Kirby, following the execution of Nimr al-Nimr.

While Saudi Arabia largely escaped the unrest that spread across the Arab world in 2011, the country’s minority Shiites, who say they suffer discrimination, have occasionally protested and fought with security forces.