Riyadh considered him a terrorist, but he was hailed in Iran as a champion of the rights of Saudi Arabia’s marginalised Shiite minority.
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“The fire has destroyed the interior of the embassy”, an eyewitness told AFP.
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Loud and angry demonstrations broke out late Saturday at the Saudi Embassy in Tehran.
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He was, however, careful to avoid calling for violence, analysts say.
Saudi Arabia’s ruling Al Saud family has grown increasingly anxious in recent years as Middle East turmoil, especially in Syria and Iraq, has empowered Sunni militants seeking to bring it down.
Nimr’s brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, pledged on his Twitter account that the pro-democracy movement among Saudi Shiites will continue.
Regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Iran are supporting opposite sides in several conflict zones across the region.
“This sends a message of resolve and firmness in Saudi Arabia’s policy of confrontation with its two enemies, mainly al-Qaeda and Iran”, Ibrahim Fraihat, senior foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, said in an interview.
Saudi foreign ministry spokesperson Mansur al-Turki called Iran’s reaction “irresponsible”, and Riyadh summoned Tehran’s envoy in protest.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his predecessor Nuri al-Maliki both belong to the Dawa party. “Repression does not last”.
Sectarian anger was also enflamed in eastern parts of Saudi, with hundreds of Shia Muslims marching through the streets. Because of this, his execution is seen as part of a rivalry.
“What is going on is an attempt to silence criticism of Saudi Arabia particularly among the Shia activist community”.
Saudi Arabia said the executed men had been convicted of adopting the radical “takfiri” ideology, joining “terrorist organisations” and implementing various “criminal plots”.
Family members of the executed Shiites have vigorously denied they were involved in attacks and said they were only peaceful protesters against sectarian discrimination in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.
Islamic scholars around the world hold vastly different views on the application of the death penalty in Shariah law.
Before his arrest in 2012, al-Nimr had spoken out against the killing of protesters and other injustices, singling out the Sunni monarchy in Bahrain as well as the Syrian government, which is dominated by that country’s Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels also denounced the execution on their website, and the Lebanese Supreme Shiite Council, the country’s top Shiite religious authority, called it a “grave mistake”.
The group added that those who carry the “moral and direct responsibility for this crime are the United States and its allies who give direct protection to the Saudi regime and cover its crimes against its (Saudi) people and people of the region”.
Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said in a statement that the Saudi government will pay a “heavy price” for “this shameful act” which it said was a sign of “decay” of Saudi rulers.
The executions took place in 12 cities, four prisons using firing squads and the others beheading.
Those executed were Saudis, except for an Egyptian and a Chadian.
The cleric’s name was on a list of the 47 carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch criticized the executions.
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European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini also issued a statement reacting to the executions, saying Nimr’s case in particular raised “serious concerns regarding freedom of expression and the respect of basic civil and political rights”.
