France, Germany condemn Saudi execution of Shia cleric, urge calm

He says bakeries, pharmacies, shops and gas stations in the area will close out of respect.

France and Germany condemned the executions, voicing concerns about growing tensions in the Middle East.

Moqtada al-Sadr, an anti-American Shi’ite leader, called for “angry demonstrations” on Monday in Najaf and at the gate of Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone where the Saudi embassy is located.

Iranian protesters early yesterday stormed the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran and Shiite Muslim Iran’s top leader predicted “divine vengeance” over Saudi Arabia’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. Iran President Hassan Rouhani also condemned the embassy attacks, the Guardian reported. Already on Saturday there were public calls for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to shut the embassy down again.

Al-Nimr was among 47 people executed Saturday after being convicted of terrorism charges.

Yet critics say the ruling family has not done enough to tackle the sectarian intolerance, hatred of infidels and praise for the principles of violent jihad propagated by Saudi clerics.

France said on Sunday it deeply deplored the mass execution and said it reiterated its opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances. “It included all the leaders of al Qaeda, all the ones responsible for shedding blood”.

The federal government is decrying Saudi Arabia’s execution of 47 men accused of terrorism-related offences on Saturday. Why are they still Canada’s ally? He denied ever advocating violence. That attack by a gang outside of the home of a suspected al-Qaida militant killed 36-year-old Irish cameraman Simon Cumbers.

In Lebanon, which also suffers from the Shia-Sunni divide, the Shiite militia Hezbollah called al-Nimr’s death sentence corrupt and said his execution amounted to assassination.

The comments by the Guard mirror those of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who also strongly criticized the sheikh’s execution.

Some of the protesters broke into the embassy and threw papers off the roof, and police worked to disperse the crowd, Sajedinia told the semi-official ISNA news agency.

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

Shia-led Iran – the main regional rival of Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia – previously warned that executing Sheikh Nimr would “cost Saudi Arabia dearly”.

Websites carried pictures of demonstrators apparently clutching the Saudi flag, which had been pulled down. Said the scholar and demanded worldwide bodies to react against Saudi government.