Nimr, executed along with three other Shi’ites and dozens of al Qaeda members, is seen in Iran as the champion of a Shi’ite minority oppressed in Saudi Arabia, and Tehran had made clear that it saw the terrorism charges against him as fabricated.
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Reprieve said s heikh Nimr, Ali al-Ribh, Mohammad Shioukh and Mohammad Suweimal were all arrested in 2012 following their involvement in anti-government protests.
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He said Nimr’s execution had “opened the gates of hell”, in comments broadcast on al-Ghadeer, his group’s television channel.
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“The execution of a man like Sheikh al-Nimr who had no tool but preaching his ideas to promote his political and religious objectives, proves nothing but the depth of irrationality and irresponsibility of the Saudi officials”, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said, as quoted by IRNA news agency.
The 43 Sunni jihadists executed on Saturday, including several prominent al Qaeda leaders and ideologues, were convicted for attacks on Western compounds, government buildings and diplomatic missions that killed hundreds from 2003-06.
Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki said some were executed by firing squad while others were beheaded.
His death is expected to further exacerbate the proxy wars for regional supremacy being fought across the region by Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The executions seemed mostly aimed at discouraging Saudis from joining local militants after bombings and shootings in Saudi Arabia over the past year killed dozens and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group called on followers in the kingdom to stage attacks.
An Iran-backed Shiite militia in Iraq has condemned Saudi Arabia’s execution of prominent opposition Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr and called on Baghdad to reconsider the re-opening of the Saudi embassy.
Hammond, however, questioned whether those convicted of links to al-Qaeda, whom Saudi has had a recent history of trying to rehabilitate, had been executed on the same day to make sure the act didn’t look sectarian. He described the executions as an example of Saudi Arabia’s tough response to terrorism.
The Interior Ministry, which announced the names of all 47 people executed in a statement, said a royal court order was issued to implement the sentences after all appeals had been exhausted.
Saudi Arabia’s top cleric Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Sheikh said the executions were carried out in line with Islamic law and the need to safeguard the kingdom’s security.
Most jihadist groups follow a radical interpretation of the Salafi branch of Islam, the strict Sunni Muslim school that was developed in Saudi Arabia and is still followed by its clergy; but they have long regarded Riyadh as an enemy. That point appeared to be bolstered by the state-affiliated Al Arabiya channel, which throughout yesterday showed graphics comparing Nimr and Shuwail, describing them both as “inciters”.
The executions are Saudi Arabia’s first in 2016. Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was a cleric who supported peaceful antigovernment protests in 2011 and denied he had endorsed violence.
Lebanon’s Supreme Islamic Shi’ite Council earlier said Nimr’s execution was a “grave mistake… and an execution of reason, moderation and dialogue”.
“There is no more room to doubt that the (house of) Al Saud are the source of takfirism in the world”, said Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi, one of Iran’s most senior establishment clerics.
The execution of the sheikh has raised fears that his nephew Ali al-Nimr, who was 17 when he was arrested, could also have the death sentence imposed on him carried out.
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“This is what I tell Al-Saud from the sacred land of Hussein: I swear to God that the sheikh’s blood was not spilled in vain”, said Said Saad al-Mussawi, one of the protesters. At least 157 people were put to death previous year, a big increase from the 90 people killed in 2014.
