Iranians storm Saudi embassy in Tehran over executions

This content was originally posted in 7DAYS UAE website at: Iranians storm Saudi embassy in Tehran over executions Protesters in Iran, angered by the execution by Saudi Arabia of a prominent Shiite cleric, broke into the Saudi embassy in Tehran early on Sunday, setting fires and throwing papers from the roof. The semiofficial Iranian ISNA news agency said the country’s top police official, Gen. Hossein Sajedinia, rushed to the scene and police worked to disperse the crowd outraged by the execution of Sheikh Nimr Al Nimr. Shia leaders in Iran and other countries swiftly condemned Riyadh and warned of sectarian backlash. Saudi Arabia’s execution on Saturday of 47 prisoners also included Al Qaeda detainees. While Saudi Arabia insisted the executions were part of a justified war on terrorism, Iranian politicians warned that the Saudi monarchy would pay a heavy price for the death of Al Nimr. The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Saudi envoy in Tehran to protest, while the Saudi Foreign Ministry later said it had summoned Iran’s envoy to the kingdom to protest the critical Iranian reaction to the Al Nimr’s execution, saying it represented “blatant interference” in its internal affairs. In Tehran, the crowd gathered outside the Saudi embassy and chanted anti-Saudi slogans. Some protesters threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the embassy, setting off a fire in part of the building, Sajedinia told the semi-official Tasnim news agency. “Some of them entered the embassy. Currently, individuals who entered the embassy have been transferred out (of the building). However, a large crowd is still there in front of the embassy,” Sajedinia told ISNA early Sunday. Some of the protesters broke into the embassy and threw papers off the roof, and police worked to disperse the crowd, Sajedinia told ISNA. He later told Tasnim that police had removed the protesters from the building and arrested some of them. He said the situation outside the embassy “had been defused.” The cleric’s execution could also complicate Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the Shia-led government in Iraq. The Saudi embassy in Baghdad reopened for the first time in nearly 25 years on Friday. Already on Saturday there were public calls for Prime Minister Haidar Al Abadi to shut the embassy down again. Al Abadi tweeted on 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 also 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. His, Mohammed al-Nimr, told Associated Press that Saudi authorities told the family they had already buried the body, but didn’t tell them at which cemetery. Meanwhile, in a statement, a United Nations spokesman that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was “deeply dismayed” over the Saudi Arabia executions, including that of Al Nimr. 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 US is “particularly concerned” that Al Nimr’s execution risked “exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time when they urgently need to be reduced.” He said the US 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 counter-terrorism law. 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 Specialised Criminal Court, established in 2008 to try terrorism cases. The executed al-Qaida detainees were convicted of launching a spate of attacks against foreigners and security forces a decade ago. Saudi Arabia insists all those executed were convicted of acts of terrorism. Al Nimr and three other Shia figures 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 described the executions as a “mercy to the prisoners” because it would save them from committing more evil acts and prevent chaos. 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.” In a press conference on Saturday, Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al Turki said the executions were carried out inside prisons and not in public, as is sometimes the case. The Interior Ministry, which announced the names of all 47 people executed in a statement, said a royal court order was issued to implement the sentences after all appeals had been exhausted. The executions took place in the capital, Riyadh, and 12 other cities and towns. Of those executed, 45 were Saudi citizens, one was from Chad and another was from Egypt. Al Nimr, who was in his 50s, never denied the political charges against him, but maintained he never carried weapons or called for violence. At his trial, he was asked if he disapproved of the Al Saud ruling family because of speeches in which he spoke out forcefully against former Interior Minister and late Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdelaziz, who is King Salman’s elder brother. “If injustice stops against Shias in the east, then (at that point) I can have a different opinion,” the cleric responded, according to his brother, who attended court sessions and spoke to The Associated Press. Al-Nimr’s brother told the AP by telephone that the executions came as a “big shock” because “we thought the authorities could adopt a political approach to settle matters without bloodshed.” He urged people to “adopt peaceful means when expressing their anger.” Saudi Arabia carried out at least 157 executions in 2015, with beheadings reaching their highest level in the kingdom in two decades, according to human rights groups.     Read the original story at: Iranians storm Saudi embassy in Tehran over executions