Posted on 01/02/2016 10:36:02 AM PST by Kaslin
Cairo (dpa) - Saudi Arabia on Saturday came under blistering criticism from the region's Shiites shortly after it executed a top Shiite cleric known for his activism against the Sunni government.
Nimr al-Nimr was among 47 people the Saudi government said it had executed earlier on Saturday after their convictions on terrorism-related charges.
Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional Shiite rival, criticized al-Nimr's execution, saying it was politically and religiously motivated.
"Instead of focusing on [Islamic State] terrorists threatening the region and the whole world, the Saudis execute a prominent figure like al-Nimr," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Jaber Ansari said, referring to the radical Sunni militia mainly active in Syria and Iraq.
Al-Nimr, a Saudi national, repeatedly demanded increased rights for the Shiite minority, who make up some 15 per cent of the Saudi population.
Saudi Arabia's Shiites complain of discrimination, saying they often struggle to get senior government jobs and benefits available to other citizens.
The government has repeatedly denied the claims and said that al-Nimr had followed "in the footsteps of the devil" in an Interior Ministry statement cited by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
"Through his terrorist acts, innocent blood was shed with the goal to shake stability in this country," it said.
Lebanon's pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement called al-Nimr's execution an "assassination" based "on flimsy pretexts and corrupt court rulings" in a statement aired by its broadcaster, al-Manar.
Iraq's influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr meanwhile called for "angry" protests in his country and the Gulf against the Saudi government.
Saudi authorities' execution of al-Nimr will lead to the overthrow of the kingdom's Sunni rulers, former Iraqi Shiite prime minister Nuri al-Maliki predicted.
Federica Mogherini, the European Union's foreign policy chief, said that al-Nimr's killing specifically had "the potential of enflaming further the sectarian tensions that already bring so much damage to the entire region, with dangerous consequences."
Al-Nimr's backers in Sunni-ruled Bahrain, which has a Shiite majority, staged protests, with people chanting slogans against the Saudi and Bahraini governments, witnesses said.
Some protesters clashed with Bahraini police, the witnesses added, without reporting casualties.
Al-Nimr, 55, was detained several times. His last arrest, in 2012, triggered days of violent protests in his hometown, Qatif, in mostly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia.
In October, a top Saudi court confirmed a death sentence against al-Nimr for inciting sectarian strife in the mostly Sunni kingdom.
Saudi Arabia defended the executions of al-Nimr and the 46 others.
"When implementing court rulings, the kingdom does not pay attention to any threats or comments," spokesman for the Saudi Interior Ministry, Mansour al-Turki, told reporters in the capital Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia's top state-appointed cleric, Abdel-Aziz al-Sheikh, also advocated the executions, saying they were "fair and aimed to boost security."
The executions were carried out in 12 different areas of the kingdom, the Interior Ministry said in a statement, quoted by SPA.
The statement said the executed were found guilty of carrying out different attacks against security and civil installations as well as killing security personnel and civilians in Saudi Arabia.
The ministry said those executed - 45 Saudis, an Egyptian and a Chadian - had been convicted on various charges including terrorism, incitement to violence and espousing militant ideology.
The executions were carried out after death sentences against the inmates were confirmed by the country's top court and ratified by King Salman, SPA said.
The executions were the first this year in Saudi Arabia, which is believed to have executed 137 people on various offences last year.
Beheading is a common method of execution in Saudi Arabia, which applies a strict interpretation of Islamic law. The country ranks among the top nations for executions carried out.
Moslems killing different Moslems for being, well, different. Good job. Now, Iran will retaliate by killing Sunnis. Oh, wait, they already did centuries earlier when they wiped out previous Sunni converts, there by wiping out all “Persian” male bloodlines.
47 dead Moose Limbs. It’s a start.
Orcs murdering goblins. I don’t see a down side.
Yeah. What’s mthe problem? The more the merrier.
Dead muslim. How can that be a problem?
I’m waiting for the demonstrations especially by western leftists.
Surely now the west will add SA to its bds list!
When I started my MBA my plan was to study Saudi Arabia and then apply for one of my company’s positions there. I wrote several papers on Saudi Arabia. The clue it wasn’t for me was when a job came open and I felt compelled to research my emergency exit should things go badly. The reason? There were so many ways that things could go badly (prison or death.) I decided there was no way I’d go there, ever.
Back to the cleric’s execution. The Saudi government is fragile. They stay in power by buying off the populace and maintaining a state police that would make the Gestapo seem like Andy Griffith. The cleric was acting like what Obama would call a community organizer and organizing protests. The government, rightly, sees this as fomenting revolution and overthrow. They can’t allow anything like what here is considered a normal occurrence. A protest of any sort is as threatening to the Saudi royal family as a loaded gun.
From another point of view, though, the cleric certainly realized he was essentially committing suicide. The government took something like four years before they executed him. Most likely this was to allow him to disappear from the public eye so his eventual death wouldn’t draw too much attention. I’m sure the other dictators in the world are giving it two thumbs up and a hearty-well played.-
An active war of Iran against Saudi Arabia would make Chevron and Exxon excellent investments.
I hope they sewed Nimr al-Nimr up in a pig’s skin before they executed him.
Increased prices for oil do not equate necessarily to increased profits.
A Future History Of The World Dominated By The Death Cult Known As Islam
STEP 1
Muslims gradually kill off all the Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Confucianists, Hindus and other non-Islamic religionists.
STEP 2
Muslims kill off all atheists.
STEP 3
Muslim sects war with each other until only one sect remains
STEP 4
Muslims kill off other muslims with whom they do not agree.
STEP 5
Muslims kill off other muslims that are not family relations.
STEP 6
Muslims kill off all relatives except their immediate family.
STEP 7
The remaining muslim family members kill each other off until there are only two left alive.
STEP 8
The remaing two muslims plot against each other until one finally kills the other.
STEP 9
The remaining muslim notices that the animals are still alive.
STEP 10
He sharpens up his ax and walks over to his pet goat.
Saudis do something good for a change.
Oh that is so racist! White robed sunnis killing black robed shiites.
Black-Robes-Matter!
Barbarians letting everyone know that religious dissent will not be tolerated.
So, what can we do or say that will help re-escalate this traditional arch-rivalry into another full-blown shooting war?
The soddies will probably need a lot of expensive military gear, aircraft, tanks etc, we should be ready with the order books.
Upon nearing the pet goat, he is seduced by it; so, according to the sayings of the Profit Muhammad, the pet goat must be killed after the consummation.
Get ready for Shiite to hit the fan, as Iran fumes.
They’re already furious at the Mina stampede. One year from now things on the Arabian Peninsula may look a lot different.
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