Iran MPs:

Rights bodies must stop double standards on Saudi crimes

Rasa - Iranian lawmakers have slammed human rights organizations and bodies for pursuing double standard policies on Saudi Arabia’s atrocities.

News ID: 426264

Date: 03 January 2017 - 22:48

RNA - In a statement issued on Tuesday on the first anniversary of Saudi Arabia’s execution of prominent Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, 191 Iranian legislators said human rights bodies must stop double standard and contradictory policies on inhuman crimes committed by Saudi Arabia and fulfill their legal duties.

The statement described Sheikh Nimr’s execution as an “inhumane act that runs counter to international principles.”

At a time when extremist and Takfiri terrorists have shattered regional and international peace and security and threatened stability and tranquility in the region, Sheikh Nimr’s execution showed the “depth of imprudence and irresponsibility of Saudi rulers,” it added.

The Iranian lawmakers also said Saudi Arabia is pursuing a destructive policy regarding regional stability and taking steps in line with fueling rifts in the region through its overt and covert support for terrorism, aggression against Yemen and the killing of its innocent nation as well as the suppression of the citizens of other countries.

Saudi Arabia executed Sheikh Nimr on January 2, 2016. The move came in defiance of international calls to release the cleric.

Nimr, a cleric highly respected by the Saudi Shias, was attacked and arrested in the Qatif region of Eastern Province back in 2012 on charges of undermining the kingdom’s security, making anti-government speeches, and defending political prisoners. Nimr had denied the accusations.

In October 2014, a Saudi court sentenced the top cleric to death. The death penalty was upheld by the Saudi court of appeals a year later.

Saudi Arabia unilaterally severed its diplomatic ties with Iran in January last year after protests in front of its diplomatic premises in Tehran and Mashhad against the execution by Riyadh of Nimr.

847/940