Iranian riot police block a street leading to the Saudi embassy as protesters hold portraits of prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr during a demonstration against his execution by Saudi authorities on Sunday in Tehran.
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Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a news conference Iran’s diplomatic mission and related entities in Saudi Arabia had been given 48 hours to leave.
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– Diplomatic relations were severed by Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd in April 1988.
Saudis cut ties with Iran following Shiite cleric execution
However, Ayatollah Khamenei said the Shia cleric had been executed for his opposition to Saudi Arabia’s Sunni rulers. Hundreds of protesters later demonstrated in front of the embassy and in a central Tehran square.
Since Saudi Arabia executed 47 people in one day, exasperation has poured in from human rights activists and sectarian anger has spread in the Middle East – over the death of one man.
Al-Jubeir said that the kingdom would not allow Iran to undermine the kingdom’s security.
There were few signs Sunday that the rhetoric between Saudi Arabia and Iran was heading toward concrete changes.
After departing Iran, the Saudi diplomatic mission staff arrived in Dubai late on Sunday, the minister said.
His execution sparked angry protests in the Qatif region in eastern Saudi Arabia, where demonstrators denounced the ruling Al Saud dynasty, and in the nearby Gulf kingdom of Bahrain. Sheik al-Nimr and a number of the other prisoners executed had been convicted following trials that raised serious concerns over the nature of the charges and the fairness of the process.
Iran’s Shiite clerics have used al-Nimr’s death to lash out at Saudi Arabia, which is founded upon an ultraconservative Sunni ideology known as Wahhabism. Sheikh al-Nimr’s execution drew protests from Shiites across the world, who backed his call for reform and wider political freedom for their sect. He also accused Iran of providing protection for Al-Qaeda through weapon trafficking. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described the cleric as a “martyr” who acted peacefully.
“This oppressed cleric did not encourage people to join an armed movement nor did he engage in secret plotting, and he only voiced public criticism … based on religious fervour”, said Khamenei.
Some protesters entered the building but were dispersed by police, ISNA reports, citing Iran’s top police official; the agency also reports that some arrests were made.
“We are deeply concerned to hear of the attack yesterday on the Saudi embassy in Tehran”. “We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions”, Kirby said.
Dion says Canada is urging authorities and leaders in Saudi Arabia and Iran to work to defuse tensions and promote reconciliation.
“We are able to have that relationship where we can tell them what we think and clearly it is a worrying development, what we have heard from Saudi Arabia in the last few days”. The two rival nations now back opposing sides in civil wars in both Syria and Yemen.
Human Rights Watch has documented longstanding due process violations in Saudi Arabia’s criminal justice system that make it hard for a defendant to get a fair trial even in capital cases.
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The cleric’s execution has threatened to complicate Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the Shiite-led government in Iraq, where the Saudi Embassy is preparing to formally reopen for the first time in almost 25 years.
