Yahoo – AFP,
January 2, 2016
 |
Saudi Shiite women hold placards bearing portraits of prominent Shiite Muslim
cleric Nimr al-Nimr during a protest in the eastern coastal city of Qatif against
his execution by Saudi authorities, on January 2, 2016 (AFP Photo) |
Riyadh
(AFP) - Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia executed Saturday a prominent Shiite cleric,
who had been behind anti-government protests, drawing angry condemnation from
Shiite-majority Iran and Iraq.
Nimr
al-Nimr was executed along with 46 other men, including Shiite activists and
Sunnis accused of involvement in Al-Qaeda killings, the interior ministry said.
 |
Nimr
al-Nimr was executed this morning
along with 46 other people convicted by
Saudi
Arabia of "terrorism" (AFP Photo)
|
It prompted
calls for demonstrations, but the brother of the 56-year-old cleric called for
calm in oil-rich Eastern Province where Shiites complain of marginalisation.
"This
action will spark anger of (Shiite) youths" in Saudi Arabia, but "we
reject violence and clashing with authorities", said Mohammed al-Nimr.
The
interior ministry said the 47 men had been convicted of adopting the radical
"takfiri" ideology, joining "terrorist organisations" and
implementing various "criminal plots".
A list
published by the official SPA news agency included Sunnis convicted of
involvement in Al-Qaeda attacks that killed Saudis and foreigners in 2003 and
2004.
Some of
them had been convicted of taking part in May 2003 attacks on expatriate
compounds in Riyadh that killed 35 people, nine of them Americans, the ministry
said.
Others were
involved in attacks the following year on a housing complex in the eastern city
of Khobar, in which 22 people were killed, most of them foreigners, and other
assaults.
Among them
was Fares al-Shuwail, described by Saudi media as Al-Qaeda's top religious
leader in the kingdom.
Notably
absent from the list, was Nimr's nephew, Ali. He was arrested at the age of 17
and allegedly tortured during detention before being sentenced to die, sparking
fury from rights watchdogs and the United States.
All those
executed were Saudis, except for an Egyptian and a Chadian.
Some were
beheaded with a sword while others were shot by firing squad, said ministry
spokesman Mansur al-Turki.
Executions
have soared in the country since King Salman ascended the throne last January,
with 153 people put to death in 2015, nearly twice as many as in 2014.
'Oppression and execution'
Saturday's
executions were condemned by Iran and Iraq as well as the Lebanese Shiite
movement Hezbollah, and drew protest calls.
"The
Saudi government supports terrorist movements and extremists, but confronts
domestic critics with oppression and execution," said Hossein Jaber
Ansari, spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry.
It will
"pay a high price for following these policies," the official IRNA
news agency quoted him as saying.
Turki
described Iran's reaction as "irresponsible".
"We
are completely confident with what we're doing and we believe in it and do not
care how others view our procedures, whether on justice or implementation of
sentences," he said.
Tehran ally
Hezbollah said Saudi Arabia's rulers are "global criminals" and
denounced Nimr's execution as a "heinous crime".
Saudi
justice ministry spokesman Mansur al-Qafari said "interference in the
kingdom's judiciary is unacceptable".
Rights
groups have repeatedly raised concern about the fairness of trials in Saudi
Arabia, where murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are
all punishable by death.
 |
Bahraini
girls run for cover from tear gas in Jidhafs, west of Manama, on
\January 2,
2015 following a protest against the execution of Nimr al-Nimr
by Saudi
authorities (AFP Photo/Mohammed al-Shaikh)
|
Trial
standards 'grossly flouted'
Amnesty
International's Middle East and North Africa director Philip Luther told AFP
the kingdom was using "the guise of counter-terrorism" to clamp down
on dissent.
The trials
"were politicised on the one hand and grossly unfair, because the
international standards for fair trial were grossly flouted."
Iran's
Basij student militia, connected to the country's elite Revolutionary Guards,
called for a demonstration Sunday outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran.
In Saudi
ally Bahrain, police used tear gas to disperse dozens of youths from the
majority Shiite population protesting the executions.
And
prominent Iraqi Shiite lawmaker Khalaf Abdelsamad called for the closure of
Riyadh's embassy and urged the government to expel its ambassador.
"The
execution of Sheikh al-Nimr will have serious consequences and bring about the
end of the Al-Saud (royal family's) rule," his office said.
In Yemen,
where the kingdom is leading a coalition against Shiite rebels, the religious
scholars association controlled by them condemned the execution.
Related Articles:
Statement of the HR/VP Federica Mogherini on the executions in Saudi Arabia
"The Dysfunction of Darkness" - Nov 14, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Reference to Paris/ISIS/Dark-Old Energy/USA+Warning for Governments around the World !!!) - (Text version) New
“… The Dark Menace is Here
I have been
giving you messages of the recalibration of dark and light for years:
"Civilization
itself is at stake within this movement, and you've passed the marker - an
alignment that many said would never happen. This is the fifth time you've been
through this opportunity and now, dear ones, you're headed for the potential of
peace on Earth. Twenty-three years ago, we told you this could happen and that
the potentials were strong for it. Now, all that is around you is struggling
with it, for the shift is here. I'll say this over and over: The old energy of
darkness dies hard, screaming and struggling to keep what it has had, and it
struggles with its own demise. So that is the energy we speak of now, and the
subject is the Human consciousness balance between dark and light."
Kryon, Feb
2012, San Antonio, TX (*)
Over a year
ago, I also gave you predictions that the coming change will be different from
anything you have ever expected. (**) There is darkness that has come together on
this planet, and we told you it would increase. It is a response to the light
that you have turned on. It is fighting for its own life within the old energy.
A consciousness of darkness has always prevailed on the planet. Corruption and
greed, and uncaring death, have always been the way of an older Human nature.
Suddenly, in this precession of the equinoxes, the prophecies are starting to
come true. The end of the indigenous calendars predicted it, and it's here.
The
metaphor is clear. Light is starting to be turned on. That is a metaphor for
increased awareness - of everything! We told you many years ago that,
"When everyone can talk to everyone, there can be no secrets." This
was given before the Internet, and now you know what we speak of. This
technology is actually a tool for you to fight the darkness. I will show you in
a moment. What I give you in this channel may seem impossible. Let me
start at the beginning. …”
“.. The Internet - The first Worldwide Tool of
Unification
Now I give
you something that few think about: What do you think the Internet is all
about, historically? Citizens of all the countries on Earth can talk to one
another without electronic borders. The young people of those nations can all
see each other, talk to each other, and express opinions. No matter what the
country does to suppress it, they're doing it anyway. They are putting together
a network of consciousness, of oneness, a multicultural consciousness. It's
here to stay. It's part of the new energy. The young people know it and are
leading the way.
I gave you
a prophecy more than 10 years ago. I told you there would come a day when
everyone could talk to everyone and, therefore, there could be no conspiracy.
For conspiracy depends on separation and secrecy - something hiding in the dark
that only a few know about. Seen the news lately? What is happening? Could it
be that there is a new paradigm happening that seems to go against history?...
"
 |
An Amnesty
International activist holds a picture of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi
during a
protest against his flogging punishment on January 29, 2015 in front of
Saudi
Arabia's embassy to Germany in Berlin. The 30-year-old Saudi has been
sentenced to 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam
and is serving a 10-year jail term - a
case which
has drawn widespread international criticism. (AFP Photo/Tobias Schwarz)
|
