Iraqi clerics call for boycotting Saudi products

Rasa - Several senior Iraqi clerics in the Southern city of Najaf issued a fatwa (religious decree) for boycotting Saudi products in retribution for the execution of prominent Shiite Cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr.

News ID: 3767

Date: 05 January 2016 - 15:30

RNA - Dozens of Iraqi clerics poured to Najaf streets to condemn Saudi Arabia for killing Sheikh Nimr, and urged the Iraqi government to show a serious reaction to the crime.

Also, hundreds of followers of Sadr movement held a protest rally near al-Khadra neighborhood in Baghdad and called for the closure of the Saudi embassy and expulsion of the country's ambassador.

An Iraqi source said that the protestors tried to enter al-Khadra region but were prevented by the Iraqi security forces.

After the Saudi interior ministry announced on Saturday that it has executed Sheikh Nimr and 46 others, Sadr movement leader, Muqtada Sadr, called for holding anger protest rallies against al-Saud, and urged the Iraqi government to close the Saudi embassy.

Also in a statement issued on Sunday, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani expressed regret over Sheikh Nimr’s killing, and offered condolences to the families of all those executed unjustly along with the top Shiite figure.

“We have received with much sorrow and regret the news of the martyrdom of a number of our brother believers in the region whose pure blood was shed in an unjust aggression,” the statement said.

In a similar stance, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday decried the move, stating that, “Violating human rights...will have repercussions on the security, stability and the social fabric of the peoples of the region.”

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