Saudi Arabia executes top Shiite cleric

Scores of Shiite Muslims marched

through the Qatif district of Saudi
Arabia's Eastern Province on
Saturday in protest at the execution
of a prominent Shiite cleric, an
eyewitness said.
Cleric Nimr al-Nimr and three other
members of Saudi Arabia's minority
sect were executed earlier alongside
43 Sunni jihadists.
The protesters chanted "down with
the Al Saud", the name of the ruling
Saudi royal family, as they marched
from Nimr's home village of al-
Awamiya to the region's main town
of Qatif, the only district in Saudi
Arabia where Shi'ites are a majority.
Most of those executed were
convicted of al Qaeda attacks in
Saudi Arabia a decade ago, but four,
including prominent cleric Nimr, were
Shiite Muslims accused of shooting
policemen during anti-government
protests in recent years.
The executions took place in 12
cities in Saudi Arabia, four prisons
using firing squads and the others
beheading. The bodies were then
hanged from gibbets in the most
severe form of punishment available
in the kingdom's Sharia Islamic law.
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.
The executions seemed mostly aimed
at discouraging Saudis from jihadism
after bombings and shootings by
Sunni militants in Saudi Arabia over
the past year killed dozens and the
Islamic State group called on
followers in the kingdom to stage
attacks.
The simultaneous execution of 47
people on security grounds was the
biggest mass execution for such
offences in Saudi Arabia since the
1980 killing of 63 jihadist rebels who
seized Mecca's Grand Mosque in
1979.
The 43 Sunni jihadists executed
included several prominent al Qaeda
figures, including those convicted of
responsibility for attacks on Western
compounds, government buildings
and diplomatic missions that killed
hundreds from 2003-06.
However, the execution of four
Shiites, including Nimr, who were
convicted of shooting and petrol
bomb attacks that killed several
policemen during anti-government
protests in Qatif district from
2011-13, provoked an immediate
response abroad.
A top Iranian cleric warned the
kingdom's Al Saud ruling family
would be "wiped from the pages of
history", Yemen's Houthi group
described Nimr as a "holy warrior"
and Lebanese militia Hezbollah said
Riyadh had made "a grave mistake".
Saudi police increased security in
Qatif district of Eastern Province,
residents said, a Shiite majority area
and site of the protests from
2011-13 in which several police were
shot dead as well as over 20 local
demonstrators. Bahrain police fired
tear gas at several dozen people
protesting against the execution of
Nimr, a witness said.

Sending a message

In a statement issued on state
television and other official media,
the Interior Ministry named the dead
men and listed crimes that included
both involvement in attacks and
embracing jihadist ideology.
Mustafa Alani, a security analyst
close to the Interior Ministry,
commented: "There is a huge popular
pressure on the government to
punish those people. It included all
the leaders of al Qaeda, all the ones
responsible for shedding blood. It
sends a message."
Analysts have speculated that the
execution of the four Shiites was
partly to demonstrate to Saudi
Arabia's majority Sunni Muslims that
the government did not differentiate
between political violence committed
by members of the two sects.
However, human rights groups have
consistently attacked the kingdom's
judicial process as unfair, pointing to
accusations that confessions have
been secured under torture and that
defendants in court have been
denied access to lawyers.
Riyadh denies practising torture,
rejects criticism of its legal process
and says its judiciary is independent.
The conservative Islamic kingdom,
which usually executes people by
public beheading, detained
thousands of militant Islamists after
the 2003-06 al Qaeda attacks, and
has convicted hundreds of them.
However, it also detained hundreds
of members of its Shiite minority
after protests from 2011-13, during
which several policemen were killed
in shooting and petrol bomb attacks.

Activists angry

At least three other Shiites were
executed alongside Nimr, including
Ali al-Rubh, who relatives said was a
juvenile at the time of the crime for
which he was convicted, Mohammed
al-Shayoukh and Mohammed
Suwaymil.
Activists in the Shiite district of Qatif
have warned of possible protests in
response to the executions. However,
Nimr's brother, Mohammed al-Nimr,
said he hoped any response would
be peaceful.
"My mobile is getting non-stop
messages from friends, all shocked
and angry. We know four of the
names on the list. The fear is for the
children among those detained," an
activist in Qatif told Reuters.
The Interior Ministry statement began
with Koranic verses justifying the
use of execution and state television
showed footage of the aftermath of al
Qaeda attacks in the last decade.
Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz
Al al-Sheikh appeared on
television soon after to describe the
executions as just.
The executions are Saudi Arabia's
first in 2016. At least 157 people
were put to death last year, a big
increase from the 90 people killed in
2014.