Tehran Friday Prayer’s Leader:

Nimr's execution would undermine Saudi regime

Rasa – Ayatollah Mohammad-Ali Movahedi-Kermani says Saudi Arabia’s possible execution of prominent Shi’a cleric, Ayatollah Nimr Baqir al-Nimr would deal another strike to the kingdom.

News ID: 3520

Date: 30 October 2015 - 18:55

RNA – “It is not clear how long Saudi rulers are going to commit mistakes because with every mistake [they make] the House of Saud regime edges closer to annihilation,” said Ayatollah Mohammad-Ali Movahedi-Kermani in an address to worshipers at weekly Friday Prayers in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

He urged Saudi rulers to act wisely and prudently, warning that Ayatollah Nimr’s possible execution will come at a heavy expense for the Saudi regime.

On October 25, the Saudi Supreme Court upheld a death sentence issued last year against Nimr for inciting sectarian strife and disobeying King Salman ibn Abdul-Aziz Al Saud. The cleric has denied the charges.

Ayatollah Nimr’s lawyer, Sadeq al-Jubran, has also said that Nimr could be executed as soon as the Saudi monarch approves his sentence.

The UK-based rights group Amnesty International has called Ayatollah Nimr’s trial “deeply flawed” and the death sentence “appalling,” saying the verdict has to be quashed.

On Thursday, people took to the streets in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province to denounce the death sentence against the prominent Shia cleric.

The protesters marched down the streets of the town of Awamiyah in the Qatif region, condemning the decision by the Saudi Supreme Court.

They also pledged to continue their campaign until the death verdict is overturned.

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