Saudi Arabia has executed the prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, the interior ministry said.
He was among 47 people put to death after being convicted of terrorism offences, it said in a statement.
Sheikh Nimr was a vocal supporter of the mass anti-government protests that erupted in Eastern Province in 2011, where a Shia majority have long complained of marginalisation.
Shia-lead Iran said Saudi Arabia would pay a "high price" for the execution.
A foreign ministry spokesman said Riyadh "supports terrorists... while executing and suppressing critics inside the country".
Iran is the main regional rival of Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia.
There are reports of protests in Qatif, in Eastern Province, where security has been raised.
Nephew spared
The executions were carried out simultaneously in 12 locations across Saudi Arabia.
Those also put to death include Sunnis convicted of involvement in al-Qaeda-linked terror attacks in 2003. Of the 47 executed, one was a Chadian national while another was Egyptian. The rest are Saudis.
Saudi Arabia's top cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, defended the executions, calling them a "mercy to the prisoners" as it would prevent them committing more crimes, Associated Press reported.
Who was Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr?
In his 50s when he was executed, he has been a persistent critic of Saudi Arabia's Sunni royal family
Arrested several times over the past decade, alleging he was beaten by Saudi secret police during one detention
Met US officials in 2008, Wikileaks revealed, seeking to distance himself from anti-American and pro-Iranian statements
Emerged as a figurehead in the protests that began in 2011 inspired by the Arab Spring
Said to have a particularly strong following among Saudi Shia youth
The international rights group Reprieve called the executions "appalling", saying at least four of those killed, including Sheikh Nimr, were put to death for offences related to political protest.
Protests broke out in early 2011 in the oil-rich Eastern Province in the wake of the Arab Spring.
Sheikh Nimr's arrest in the following year, during which he was shot, triggered days of protests in which three people were killed.
His death sentence was confirmed in October 2014, with his family saying he had been found guilty among other charges of seeking "foreign meddling" in the kingdom.
Sheikh Nimr's supporters say he advocated only peaceful demonstrations and eschewed all violent opposition to the government.
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.
His brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, said he hoped any reaction to the execution would be peaceful.
But an MP in Iraq's governing Shia coalition said the death aimed at "provoking sectarian fighting", while Lebanon's Shia council called it a "grave mistake", Reuters reported.
Police in Bahrain, which has seen tensions between the majority Shia population and its Sunni rulers, fired tear gas on protesters angry at the execution.
Saudi authorities deny discriminating against Shia and blame Iran for stirring up discontent.
Saudi Arabia carried out more than 150 executions last year, the highest figure recorded by human rights groups for 20 years.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35213244

cc.Lalasticala..ishilove come see war oh

The FGN should not accept any subtle nod regarding Shiite subjugation to plunge this country into any religious crisis.

BH is more than enough madness to bear.

"Religion is the opium of the people "- Karl Marx

RIP to him

That means more violence in the Arabic countries this year.
Muslim kill Muslim and every other religion and they call it the religion of peace.
If you give Muslims the whole of Europe they will bomb themselves and you will ask yourself what do they really want?

TheFreeOne:
The FGN should not accept any subtle nod regarding Shiite subjugation to plunge this country into any religious crisis.

BH is more than enough madness to bear.

I'm sure saudi must have called buhari urging his to execute Zakzaky and kanu. Well buhari will only be left with the Royal kingdom of Daurastan after the executions.

Ok

Saudi no try

He Concern them.

Sad. What happened to life imprisonment. The Iranians in their bid to defend shittes across the world shoud stop meddling in the internal affair's of sovereign nations and advise their faithfulls to be law abiding citizens of any country they find themselves.

this is a good news
a java programmer would be like: muslims--;

Good.

Na wah o

Lordave:
Saudi showing Iran how to do it.

Muslims indiscriminately murdering muslims.

Actually Iran executes Sunnis far more than Saudi kills Shia
The difference is that Shias have a well-oiled propaganda methodology
They carry out worldwide mobilisation to draw attention to their issues

Iran was a sunni country which was converted to Shia country by massacre, torture etc

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/03/iranian-sunnis-complain-discrimination-2014397125688907.html

http://www.todayszaman.com/world_iranian-sunnis-to-be-executed-for-their-religious-beliefs_324380.html

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/human-rights/19424-iran-call-to-save-seven-sunni-political-prisoners-on-verge-of-execution


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXKiZGMn39k

The day the Sunnis killed mohamed grandson and his entire family was the day tears, sorrows and blood inhabit Islam.

Invariably mohamed is to be blamed, he set this chaos in motion.

Saudi is daring Iran to do their worst! Most of these countries in that region will always be accusing the West of being intolerant of Muslims while it is they themselves that are least tolerant of people they share a common religion!

Why am I not surprised?


How will this religion whose sole preoccupation is
"conquering the whole world" ever know peace?
These Mohammedians rarely discuss societal values such
as human rights, girl child education, good governance,
press freedom etc.


All they do us mastur.bate over an unrealistic prophesy
by a drunken Mohammed that "Islam will dominate the
world". This they try to achieve by all means, thus
justifying terrorism, rape, beheadings, armed banditry etc.


How will this ever happen when they cannot even put their
house in order. The Shiites and Sunni have been
murdering themselves since time immemorial. And if you
ask them why, they blame the Jews. Were the Jews also
responsible for the gruesome murder of 3 our of 4 direct
Mohammed disciples by fellow Muslims simply because of
disagreements.


There is no place for conflict resolution in Islam and that
is why killings and bloodshed are the only response Islam
has for every problem it encounters in its self-servicing...


Kontunu o.....

Make dem kill themselves. Wetin concern me

BetaThings:


Actually Iran executes Sunnis far more than Saudi kills Shia
The difference is that Shias have a well-oiled propaganda methodology
They carry out worldwide mobilisation to draw attention to their issues

Iran was a sunni country which was converted to Shia country by massacre, torture etc

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/03/iranian-sunnis-complain-discrimination-2014397125688907.html

http://www.todayszaman.com/world_iranian-sunnis-to-be-executed-for-their-religious-beliefs_324380.html

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/human-rights/19424-iran-call-to-save-seven-sunni-political-prisoners-on-verge-of-execution


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXKiZGMn39k

you have left the Islam section to bring your sectarian hate to this section.

when a Sunni terrorist is executed in Iran, you dont call him a terrorist but a Sunni. in Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Nimr did not carry arms or cause violence against the authorities. in fact he did renounce violence as all Shia scholars do. Saudi Arabia considers atheism as terrorism. anyone or anything different to Wahhabism and forming political opposition, even if peaceful, the Saudis consider "terrorism" and kill.

and regarding your regurgitated trash that Iran was Sunni and forcefully converted to Shia Islam, why are you trying to rewrite history or lie if you are ignorant?

throughout the centuries, which of the two parties have been the victim and the oppressed party? Iran was Sunni ruled, just like you have majority Shia Bahrain today ruled by a Sunni monarch.

things changed in Iran when the ruler embraced Shia Islam. and there was a Persian-Ottoman Turkish ethnic rivalry that took a sectarian twist, as the Ottomans were Sunnis.

after Shah Ismail died, the rulers of Iran after him were Sunnis. that did not help in turning the tide of the freedom people found to embrace Shia Islam.

it is not Shias that go into mosques and Christian churches to blow themselves up. Shias are peaceful and not terroists. no matter the hatred and ignorance you harbor, the truth will prevail and the world will know the truth sooner or later. i'd advice you to read more of history and more about your religion and the history of Islam, which you bundle and shove under the carpet. while you peddle the lie about Iran's forceful conversion into Shi'ism, you forget that Egyptians were majority Shia. and of modern times, until recently years, you would hardly find an Egyptian Shia. Salahuddin massacred the Shiites in Egypt, didn't he? tell us about Egypt. you also have the lie that there is no "Sunni mosque" in tehran. stop lying. and no one is interested in your sectarian hate videos peddled by Wahhabi terror sympathizers on youtube. you think you can deceive people, especially here, because they are mostly or many of them who are not versed on these issues.

BetaThings:

Iran was a sunni country which was converted to Shia country by massacre, torture etc

Iran/Persia was not even a muslim country until the invasion of arabs from Saudi Arabia.
Iran and the Shia
https://books.google.ca/books?id=2s3cDwzE_bMC&pg=PA13&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

.