Influential Shiite cleric among 47 executed in Saudi Arabia

and Saudi Arabia’s execution yesterday of 47 prisoners, including an influential Shiite cleric, threatened to further damage SunniShiite 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 yesterday were al-Qaida detainees who were convicted on launching a spate of attacks against foreigners and security forces a decade ago.

The execution 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 Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. 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.

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 yesterday to close down the embassy.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar alAabadi Tweeted last 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 neighbouring Bahrain where police fired tear gas and bird shot, and as far away as northern India.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry said the cleric’s execution “strengthens our existing concerns about the growing tensions and the deepening rifts in the region.”

His death comes 11 months after Saudi Arabia issued a sweeping counterterrorism law after Arab Spring protests shook the region in 2011 and toppled several long-time 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 yesterday 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 Sunni-led, 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.

Advocacy organization Reprieve, which works against the death penalty worldwide, said two of the Shiites executed were teenagers when they were arrested. Reprieve said Ali al-Ribh was 18 years old and Mohammed al-Shuyokh was 19 at the time of arrest in 2012. Both were convicted on charges related to anti-government protests held in eastern Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia says all those executed were convicted of acts of terrorism. Al-Nimr and the three others mentioned had been charged in connection with violence that led to the deaths of several protesters and police officers.

Saudi Arabia’s top cleric Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Sheikh defended the executions as in line with Islamic Shariah law. He described the executions as a “mercy to the prisoners” because it would save them from committing more evil acts and prevent chaos.

Islamic scholars around the world hold vastly different views on the application of the death penalty in Shariah law. Saudi Arabia’s judiciary adheres to one of the strictest interpretations, a Sunni Muslim ideology referred to as Wahhabism.

Because Saudi Arabia carries out most executions through beheading and sometimes in public, it has drawn comparisons to extremist groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State group — which also carry out public beheadings and claim to be implementing Shariah.

Saudi Arabia strongly rejects the comparisons and points out that it has a judicial appeals process with executions ultimately aimed at combating crime.

In Lebanon, senior Shiite cleric Abdul-Amir Kabalan described al-Nimr’s execution as “a grave mistake that could have been avoided with a royal amnesty.”

The Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah issued a statement calling al-Nimr’s execution an “assassination” and a “ugly crime.” 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.”