Sheikh Nimr execution will wipe out Al Saud ruling family from pages of history: Ayotallah Khatemi
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TEHRAN: The Top Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said the Al Saud ruling family would be “wiped from the pages of history,” Yemen’s Houthi group described Nimr as a ‘holy warrior’ and Lebanese militia Hezbollah said Riyadh had made ‘a grave mistake’.
Saudi Arabia executed 47 people on Saturday for terrorism, mostly suspected al Qaeda members but also a prominent Shia cleric, signalling it would not tolerate attacks by either Sunni extremists or minority Shias seeking equality in the kingdom, but stirring sectarian anger across the region.
Most of the 47 executed in the kingdom’s biggest mass execution for decades were Sunnis convicted of al Qaeda attacks in Saudi Arabia a decade ago. Only four, including prominent cleric Nimr al Nimr, were Shias accused of shooting policemen.
The executions took place in 12 cities in Saudi Arabia, four prisons using firing squads and the others beheading.
Analysts have speculated that the execution of the four Shias was partly to demonstrate to Saudi Arabia’s majority Sunni Muslims that the government did not differentiate between political violence committed by members of the two sects. (Tehran Times)
