Saudi Arabia Faces Condemnation For Executing A Leader Of Its Shiite Minority

In a statement, Hezbollah pointed out that the real reason of assassinating Sheikh Nimr is that his eminence faced the Saudi authority’s ignorance, tyranny and oppression, by demanding it to grant the oppressed people their wasted rights and fortune.

The 47 who were executed included an al-Qaida ideologue as well as Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Shiite cleric who had rallied anti-government protests before his arrest in 2012.

Saudi police increased security in Qatif district of Eastern Province, where the 2011-13 protests took place, residents said, and Bahrain police fired tear gas at several dozen people protesting against the execution of Nimr, a witness said.

“The execution of a personality such as Sheikh Nimr, who had no means other than speech to pursue his political and religious objectives, only shows the depth of imprudence and irresponsibility”, Ansari said in a statement posted to Iran’s Press TV, accusing the Saudi government of supporting terrorism and “takfiri extremists” in the region.

However, it also detained hundreds of members of its Shiite minority after protests from 2011 to 2013, during which several policemen were killed in shooting and petrol bomb attacks.

Saudi Arabia has long accused fellow oil producer Iraq of being too close to Shi’ite power Iran and of encouraging sectarian discrimination against Sunnis, a charge Baghdad denies. Almost all executions carried out in Saudi Arabia are by beheading with a sword.

Government-appointed clerics have for years denounced al Qaeda and Islamic State as religious “deviants”, while the government has cracked down on jihadists at home, squeezed their funding streams overseas and stopped them traveling to fight.

The cleric’s nephew, Ali al-Nimr, who was 17 when he was arrested following the demonstrations and also faces execution, was not listed as one of those killed. Authorities said most of those executed were involved in a series of attacks carried out by Al Qaeda between 2003 and 2006.

Kashmiri Shiite Muslims, carrying a placard with the portrait of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, shout slogans during a protest in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir.

Shane Enright of Amnesty International UK said the death penalty was “unacceptable in all circumstances” and was particularly concerned that a number of “peaceful dissidents” had been killed, including al Nimr.

The brother of the cleric said the family was shocked by news of his execution but hoped that any reaction would be peaceful.

Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran are regional rivals, and support opposite sides in the wars in Syria and Yemen.

Fuad Ibrahim, a UK-based Saudi writer and researcher, described Sheikh Nimr’s execution as the start of a new, darker chapter between Saudi’s Shia citizens and their government.

Executions have soared in the country since King Salman acceded the throne in January 2015, with 153 people, including convicted drug-traffickers, put to death a year ago, almost twice as many as in 2014.

Lebanon’s Supreme Islamic Shia Council has described Nimr’s execution as a “grave mistake”.

His execution has been widely condemned by human rights groups and Shia communities around the world.

Al-Nimr had been regarded as the most vocal Shi’ite leader in the eastern Saudi province of Qatif.

“But the execution of Sheikh Nimr suggests they are using execution to settle political scores”, Amnesty International’s Middle East and north Africa director Philip Luther told AFP.