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Cleveland Daily Banner—Sunday, January 3, 2016—13
In Saudi Arabia
Shiite cleric among 47 executed
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) —
Saudi
Arabia’s
execution
Saturday of 47 prisoners, including an influential Shiite cleric,
threatened to further damage
Sunni-Shiite relations in a regional struggle playing out across the
Middle East between the kingdom
and its regional foe Iran.
Shiite leaders across the region
swiftly condemned Riyadh and
warned of sectarian backlash as
Saudi Arabia insisted the executions were part of a justified war
on terrorism. Also executed
Saturday were al-Qaida detainees
who were convicted of launching a
spate of attacks against foreigners
and security forces a decade ago.
The execution of Sheikh Nimr
al-Nimr now becomes another
focal point for sectarian and political wrangling between Saudi
Arabia and Iran. The two regional
rivals back opposing sides in civil
wars in Yemen and in Syria. Saudi
Arabia was also a vocal critic of
the recent Iranian agreement with
world powers that ends international economic sanctions in
exchange for limits on the Iranian
nuclear program.
Iranian politicians warned that
the Saudi monarchy would pay a
heavy price for the death of alNimr. The Iranian Foreign
Ministry summoned the Saudi
envoy in Tehran to protest, and
parliament speaker Ali Larijani
said the execution would prompt
“a maelstrom” in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry
later said it had summoned Iran’s
envoy to the kingdom to protest
the critical Iranian reaction to the
sheikh’s execution, saying it represented “blatant interference” in
its internal affairs.
Al-Nimr’s execution could also
antagonize the Shiite-led government in Iraq, which has close relations with Tehran. The Saudi
embassy in Baghdad, which had
been closed for nearly 25 years,
was reopened on Friday. An influential Shiite militia in Iraq, known
as Asaib Ahl Al-Haq, called on the
government Saturday to close
down the embassy.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar alAabadi Tweeted Saturday night
that he was “shocked and saddened” by al-Nimr’s execution,
adding that, “peaceful opposition
is
a
fundamental
right.
Repression does not last.”
Hundreds of al-Nimr’s supporters protested in his hometown of
al-Qatif in eastern Saudi Arabia,
in neighboring Bahrain where
police fired tear gas and bird shot,
and as far away as northern India.
The
sheikh’s
brother,
Mohammed al-Nimr, said in a
telephone interview that Saudi
authorities told the family they
had already buried the body, but
didn’t tell them at which cemetery. The family had hoped to bury
his body in his hometown. His
funeral would likely have attracted thousands of supporters,
including large numbers of protesters. Instead the family
planned to hold prayers and
accept condolences at the mosque
in a village near al-Qatif, where
the sheikh used to pray.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry
said the cleric’s execution
“strengthens our existing concerns about the growing tensions
and the deepening rifts in the
region.”
State Department spokesman
John Kirby said in a statement
that the U.S. is “particularly concerned” that al-Nimr’s execution
risked “exacerbating sectarian
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AP Photo
In thIs MAy 30, 2015, photo, Saudis carry a poster demanding freedom for jailed Shiite cleric Sheikh
Nimr al-Nimr, during a funeral procession, in Tarut, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia says it has executed 47
prisoners, including leading Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. The cleric’s name was among a list of the
47 prisoners executed carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency. It cited the Interior Ministry for the
information.
tensions at a time when they
urgently need to be reduced.” He
said the U.S. is calling on Saudi
Arabia to ensure fair judicial proceedings and permit peaceful
expression of dissent while working with all community leaders to
defuse tensions after the executions.
Al-Nimr’s death comes 11
months after Saudi Arabia issued
a sweeping counterterrorism law
after Arab Spring protests shook
the region in 2011 and toppled
several longtime autocrats. The
law codified that the kingdom
could prosecute as a terrorist anyone who demands reform, exposes corruption or otherwise
engages in dissent or violence
against the government.
The convictions of those executed Saturday were issued by Saudi
Arabia’s Specialized Criminal
Court, established in 2008 to try
terrorism cases.
To counter Arab Spring rumblings that threatened to spill into
eastern Saudi Arabia, the kingdom sent troops in 2011 to crush
Shiite protests demanding more
political powers from the Sunniled, fraternal monarchy of
Bahrain. More security forces
were also deployed that year to
contain protests in Saudi Arabia’s
oil-rich east, where al-Nimr rallied
youth who felt disenfranchised
and persecuted.
A Saudi lawyer in the eastern
region told The Associated Press
that three other Shiite political
detainees were also executed from
among the 47. The lawyer spoke
on condition of anonymity for fear
of reprisal.
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