Saudi Arabia execute prisoners convicted of terrorism 47, including al-Qaida militants and Shiite clerics leading the protests for political reform, encouraging reaction Saturday from Islamic countries as well as human rights and advocacy groups.
The mass executions — by beheaded or shot — "just further distracting stain Saudi Arabia's human rights record," Sarah Leah, Director of the Middle East-based Human Rights Watch, a nonprofit group, told the Associated Press.
Implementation of the cleric Nimr al-Nimr, 56, and some other Shiite activists couldincite sectarian unrest in the Middle East, where tensions remain high between Sunniand Shia Muslims. Saudi Arabia is a Sunni-dominated country.
Saudi Arabia Ministry of the Interior issued a statement that condemned the 47 men"involved in a score of terrorist attacks resulting in death lives and damage public andprivate property, military," according to the Saudi Press Agency.
Amnesty International, other human rights organizations, denounced the death sentence for al-Nimr and other Shiite activists in November, said "the Saudi Arabiaauthorities are using the guise of counterterrorism to settle political Scores."
In Iraq, Shiite political leaders and clerics called on al-Sadr Madhavi demonstrations inthe Gulf countries to protest the execution of al-Nimr, Reuters reported.
Shia Muslim men of Kashmir shouted slogans against the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, during a protest in Srinagar, India-controlled Kashmir, Saturday, January 1, 2016.(Photo: Dar Yasin, AP)
Scattered cases of violence in the wake of the cleric's execution. Hundreds of his supporters took the streets in his hometown of al-Qatif in Eastern Saudi Arabia andneighboring Bahrain, where the police responded with tear gas and bird shot, according to the AP. China's official Xinhua News Agency reports that tweeted unconfirmed ArabConsulates in Mashhad city Iran was attacked by the demonstrators.
Al-Nimr vocal critic of the Kingdom of Bahrain, which forcibly suppressing protests in2011 with the help of Saudi Arabia's forces. Popular among young Shiites are not happyin Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, al-Nimr has never denied the accusations that political, butmaintained he never carried a weapon or calling for violence, the AP reported.
Ansari jaberi, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Iran, a majority Shiite country, the Saudi Government said "face domestic criticism with suppression and execution. ... (It) will pay a high price for this policy, "according to media reports. Yemen, Houthi sect closely associated with Iran, al-Nimr is described as "Holy warriors."
In Lebanon, a leading Shia cleric Abdul-Amir Kabalan condemned the executions of al-Nimr, describing it as a "grave mistake that could have been avoided with a royalamnesty that would help reduce sectarian tensions in the region," the AP reported.
Kabalan is Deputy Head of the influential Supreme Shiite Islamic Council, the main religious body for Lebanon 1.2 million Shiites.
The Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah issued a statement calling the executionsof al-Nimr "murder" and "ugly crime."
47 were executed, 45 Saudi Arabia citizens, one is from Chad and another from Egypt.The four are Shia.
Al-Nimr's nephew, Ali al-Nimr, a teenager when he was arrested, also faces execution but was not on the list released Saturday. Amnesty International complained bitterly aboutchildren who face the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Shia cleric Nimr figures al-Nimr is 47 people executed on conviction of terrorismand incitement to violence charges. (Photo: European Pressphoto Agency)
Among those who were executed were convicted terrorists involved in attacks in 2004 at the American Consulate in Jeddah that left nine dead. Another is Faris al-Shuwail, a leading ideologue in the Arabian branch of al-Qaeda who was arrested in August 2004during a major crackdown following a series of deadly attacks, the AP reported.
The death of al-Qaeda militants pose the prospect of revenge attacks. Al-Qaeda inYemen affiliate last month threatened violence if their sentence is carried out, the APreported.
The execution was carried out in the capital, Riyadh, and 11 cities and towns, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia carried out 157 execution by 2015, all after King Salman took the throne in January. There are 90 executions in 2014.
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