The state-run Saudi Press Agency and state television announced the executions on Saturday, quoting the Interior Ministry.
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A list published by the official Saudi Press Agency included Sunni Muslims convicted of involvement in Al-Qaeda attacks that killed Saudi and foreigners in the kingdom in 2003 and 2004.
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Amnesty International says the number of executions in Saudi Arabia this year is the highest for two decades, since 192 people were put to death in 1995.
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Riyadh’s main regional rival Iran and its Shi’ite allies immediately reacted with vigorous condemnation of the execution of Nimr, and Saudi police raised security in a district where the sect is a majority in case of protests, residents said.
Shocked by the news of his brother’s execution, Sheikh Nimr’s brother, Mohammad, slammed Riyadh’s decision, which he said, was a negative response to the Shia cleric’s pro-democracy demands, Arabic-language media reported him as saying.
Saudi authorities deny discriminating against Shia and blame Iran for stirring up discontent.
All those executed were Saudis, except for an Egyptian and a Chadian.
One of Iran’s most senior clerics has predicted the fall of Saudi Arabia’s ruling family following the kingdom’s execution of Shi’ite preacher Nimr al-Nimr.
Unlike the extrajudicial beheadings that Islamic State carries out against hostages and others, the kingdom said its judiciary process requires at least 13 judges at three levels of court to rule in favor of a death sentence before it is carried out.
Earlier, Iran had warned that executing Nimr “would cost Saudi Arabia dearly”.
The death sentence of al-Nimr, who led anti-government protests in the country’s east, was confirmed by the Supreme Court in last October.
His brother, Mohammed al Nimr, told Reuters: “Sheikh Nimr enjoyed high esteem in his community and within Muslim society in general and no doubt there will be reaction”.
She said al-Nimr was convicted in an “unfair” trial and that his execution “is only adding to the existing sectarian discord and unrest”.
Saudi Arabia in 2015 suffered a series of further bombing and shooting attacks by jihadist militants sympathetic to Islamic State group. This is the biggest mass execution in the country since 1980. “The sword is at his neck unless he is returned back to his family”, said Nimr.
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Mohammed al-Nimr said “there will be reactions” but urged people to “adopt peaceful means when expressing their anger”.
