INTERNATIONAL: Saudi execution of Shia cleric sparks outrage in Middle East

By Guardian (UK)

January 2, 2016

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*Photo credit: Guardian

GUARDIAN (UK) – The Iranian government and religious leaders across the Middle East have condemned Saudi Arabia’s execution of a prominent Shia cleric and warned of repercussions that could bring down the country’s royal family.

In a serious escalation of religious and diplomatic tensions in the region, councils and clerics in Iran, Yemen and Lebanon said the killing of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr would prompt widespread anger.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Hossein Jaber Ansari, accused Riyadh of hypocrisy. “The Saudi government supports terrorists and takfiri [radical Sunni] extremists, while executing and suppressing critics inside the country,” he told the Iranian state news agency.

In Bahrain, police fired teargas at several dozen people protesting against the cleric’s execution, a witness said. Demonstrators carrying pictures of Nimr faced security forces in a standoff in Abu-Saiba, a Shia village west of the capital, Manama.

Activists have called for protests in the Sunni-ruled kingdom, a sign that Nimr’s death may further inflame sectarian tensions in the Middle East.

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One comment

Jean Valjean
January 2, 2016 at 1:36 PM
Barbarism is the order of the day in Saudi Arabia. Public executions
is like a form of a Roman Holiday without the imbibing of the wine.
Would you like to have one as a neighbor or as a close friend maybe?
Well I say, not-in-my-back-yard. Stay away with your strange attitude.
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