Saudi execution of prominent Shia cleric sparks outrage

Saudi Arabia’s execution of a prominent Shia cleric and 46 other men prompted outrage in the Middle East, with Iran warning that Riyadh would “pay a heavy price”.

“The Saudi government supports terrorist movements and extremists, but confronts domestic critics with oppression and execution,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Hossein Jaber Ansari said. “The Saudi government will pay a heavy price for following these policies. The execution of a figure like Sheikh al-Nimr, who had no means to follow his political and religious goals but through speaking out, merely shows the extent of irresponsibility and imprudence.”

House speaker Ali Larijani warned that Nimr’s “martyrdom” will put Saudi Arabia in a “maelstrom that it will not be able to pass through”.

Iran, the main regional rival of Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, will close all its seminaries on Sunday to protest Nimr’s execution. A demonstration is also expected in the Grand mosque of Qom, the heart of Shiite faith in Iran.

Sheikh Nimr, 56, was a vocal supporter of the mass anti-government protests that erupted in 2011 Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, where a Shia majority have long complained of marginalization. At least one protest march was held in Qatif, in Eastern Province, against the execution.

Protestors shouted the slogans “The people want the fall of the regime” and “Down with the al-Saud family”, reminiscent of the 2011 protests.

Nimr’s execution was also criticised in Iraq, where the head of the Shiite Dawa party’s parliamentary bloc urged Baghdad to shut down the Saudi embassy, expel the ambassadors and “execute all Saudi terrorists in Iraqi prisons”.

Iraq’s prime minister Haider al-Abadi and his predecessor Nuri al-Maliki both belong to the Dawa party, and the latter claimed that Nimr’s execution will mark the end of Saudi Arabia’s government.

“We strongly condemn these detestable sectarian practices and affirm that the crime of executing Sheikh al-Nimr will topple the Saudi regime as the crime of executing the martyr (Mohammed Baqir) al-Sadr did to Saddam (Hussein),” Maliki said, referring to another prominent Shia cleric killed in 1980.

In Lebanon, the powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah accused Riyadh of “assassinating” Nimr on the basis of “false pretenses, corrupt rulings, empty allegations and perverted logic”.

In Europe, a German foreign ministry official said that the executions “strengthens Germany’s existing concerns about increasing tensions and deepening rifts in the region”.

The UK foreign office released a statement, saying that the UK “opposes the death penalty in all circumstances and in every country” and that the foreign secretary “regularly raises human rights issues with his counterparts in countries of concern, including Saudi Arabia”.

However, the executions drew praise from Saudi Arabia’s regional allies, with UAE foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan hailing it as a “clear message against terrorism and those who call for and incite unrest and sedition to tear apart the society’s unity and threaten social peace in the kingdom”.

Bahrain, which has itself faced unrest from its Shia majority population, backed Riyadh to take “all deterrent and needed measures to confront violence and extremism”.