No fewer than 47 prisoners including Shiite Cleric convicted of terrorism and for being instrumental to Arab Spring years back have been executed in Saudi Arabia.

Analysts express concern that the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr may cause unrest among Saudi Arabia Shiite minority group mostly located around the Kingdom’s east and in Bahrain, which has witnessed low-level violence since 2011 protests by its Shiite majority asking for higher rights from its Sunni monarchy.

According to Yahoo News , the state-run Saudi Press Agency mentioned the name of the Cleric on the list to be among the 47 cited by the Interior Ministry for news. Saudi state television also aired the execution news.

Of the 47, the Saudi authority identified 45 to be citizens, one from Chad while the remaining one was from Egypt.

The Saudi authorities explained that a royal court order was issued to carried out the sentences after concluding all the appeals as the execution exercises were done in the nation’s capital Riyadh, and 12 other cities and towns

Al-Nimr had been a rigorous critic of Bahrain’s Sunni-led monarchy, which harshly suppressed the 2011 Shiite-led protests. Later deployed troops to halt the uprising feeling unsafe about the spread.

In 2012 before Al-Nirmr’s arrest, he stated unequivocally that the people didn’t want a leadership that kill and gag the people while protesting to protect their rights.

The verdict against the Shiite leader who was in his mid-50s has been seen as “crush all dissent.” by the Amnesty International.

During Al-Nimr’s trial, he was asked if he disapproved of Al Saud family and here is what he had to say “If injustice stops against Shiites in the east, then (at that point) I can have a different opinion,”

He didn’t deny charges against him, however, defended himself by saying he never took up arms or neither did insight any violence.

In breaking the news of the verdict, the Saudi TV showed mugshots of all those whose lives were sniffed off in the execution exercise. In the display, Al-Nimr was Number 46 with his head covered with red-and-white scarf typically worn by Saudi men while wearing gray beards.

The Saudi state television after listing the images and names of those executed, showed black and white video footage of previous terror incidents in the affected kingdom, in one of them bodies were shown in a mosque attacked with a traditional slow music at the background.

According to Yahoo News, “Saudi Arabia carried out at least 157 executions in 2015, with beheadings reaching their highest level in the kingdom in two decades, according to several advocacy groups that monitor the death penalty worldwide.”

Source: http://www.robminds.com/2016/01/02/saudi-arabia-executes-47-including-shiite-cleric/
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Saudi Arabia executes 47 people, including top Shiite cleric

Riyadh (AFP) - Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia executed Saturday a prominent Shiite cleric, who had been behind anti-government protests, drawing angry condemnation from Shiite-majority Iran and Iraq.
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The execution of Nimr al-Nimr and 46 other men, including Shiite activists and Sunnis accused of involvement in Al-Qaeda killings, was announced by the interior ministry.

It prompted calls for demonstrations, but the brother of the 56-year-old cleric called for calm in oil-rich Eastern Province where Shiites complain of marginalisation.

"This action will spark anger of (Shiite) youths" in Saudi Arabia, but "we reject violence and clashing with authorities", said Mohammed al-Nimr.

The interior ministry said the 47 men had been convicted of adopting the radical "takfiri" ideology, joining "terrorist organisations" and implementing various "criminal plots".

A list published by the official SPA news agency included Sunnis convicted of involvement in Al-Qaeda attacks that killed Saudis and foreigners in 2003 and 2004.

Some of them had been convicted of taking part in May 2003 attacks on expatriate compounds in Riyadh that killed 35 people, nine of them Americans, the ministry said.

Nimr al-Nimr was executed this morning along with 46 other people convicted by Saudi Arabia of " …

Others were involved in attacks the following year on a housing complex in the eastern city of Khobar, in which 22 people were killed, most of them foreigners, and other assaults.

Among them was Fares al-Shuwail, described by Saudi media as Al-Qaeda's top religious leader in the kingdom.

Notably absent from the list, was Nimr's nephew, Ali. He was arrested at the age of 17 and allegedly tortured during detention before being sentenced to die, sparking fury from rights watchdogs and the United States.

All those executed were Saudis, except for an Egyptian and a Chadian.

Some were beheaded with a sword while others were executed by firing squad, said ministry spokesman Mansur al-Turki.

Executions have soared in the country since King Salman ascended the throne last January, with 153 people put to death in 2015, nearly twice as many as in 2014.

- 'Oppression and execution' -

Saturday's executions were condemned by Iran and Iraq as well as the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, and drew protest calls.

"The Saudi government supports terrorist movements and extremists, but confronts domestic critics with oppression and execution," said Hossein Jaber Ansari, spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry.

It will "pay a high price for following these policies," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.

Turki described Iran's reaction as "irresponsible".

"We are completely confident with what we're doing and we believe in it and do not care how others view our procedures, whether on justice or implementation of sentences," he said.

Tehran ally Hezbollah said Saudi Arabia's rulers are "global criminals" and denounced Nimr's execution as a "heinous crime".

Saudi justice ministry spokesman Mansur al-Qafari said "interference in the kingdom's judiciary is unacceptable".

Rights groups have repeatedly raised concern about the fairness of trials in Saudi Arabia, where murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.

Iran's Basij student militia, connected to the country's elite Revolutionary Guards, called for a demonstration Sunday outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

In Saudi ally Bahrain, dozens of youths from the majority Shiite population staged protests to denounce the executions.

And prominent Iraqi Shiite lawmaker Khalaf Abdelsamad called for the closure of Riyadh's embassy and urged the government to expel its ambassador.

"The execution of Sheikh al-Nimr will have serious consequences and bring about the end of the Al-Saud (royal family's) rule," his office said.

Nimr's brother said he had hoped that "wisdom and a political solution" would prevail to spare the cleric's life.

And he warned that his execution could trigger "negative reactions" inside and outside Saudi Arabia.

"But we hope for peaceful reactions".

The Bahraini government and the United Arab Emirates voiced support for the conservative kingdom, saying the executions were necessary to confront extremism.

- 'Instigator of sedition' -

Nimr was arrested in 2012, three years after calling for Eastern Province's Shiite-populated Qatif and Al-Ihsaa governorates to be separated from Saudi Arabia and united with Bahrain.

The interior ministry had described him at the time of his arrest as an "instigator of sedition".

A video on YouTube in 2012 showed Nimr making a speech celebrating the 2012 death of then-interior minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz.

"Let the worms eat him," Nimr had said, while also criticising the rulers of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, where the Shiite community has also complained of marginalisation.

The anti-government protests that erupted in eastern Saudi Arabia five years ago coincided with a Shiite-led protest movement in Bahrain that was later crushed with help from Saudi troops.

http://news.yahoo.com/saudi-executes-47-including-top-shiite-cleric-075812543.html

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