Saudi Arabia: Shi’ite Pro-Democracy Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr to be Beheaded and Crucified

[Anglojew]

Saudi Arabia has sentenced to death a Shi'ite Muslim cleric who was at the forefront of the country's pro-democracy protests in 2011 in a move that will likely rekindle sectarian divide in the Middle East, sending shockwaves through the Shi'ite community.

Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who was detained in 2012 after backing mass pro-democracy protests in the Qatif district of eastern Saudi Arabia, is a champion for greater rights for Saudi minorities, including the country's disenfranchised Shi'ite minority. He was shot in the leg four times upon arrest by police, causing several days of protests in the Saudi kingdom in which three unarmed protesters were killed by Saudi forces.

A total of 20 people were killed during the Saudi crackdown on peaceful protesters between 2011 and August 2012.
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The 53-year-old cleric, who was previously jailed five times between 2003 and 2008, was held for eight months before being charged. He spent the first four months in an isolation cell at a prison hospital in Riyadh. Human rights groups complained that Nimr did not receive a fair trial and was not given adequate medical care for gunshot wounds received during arrest.

A prosecutor said last year that he was seeking to convict the cleric for "aiding terrorists" and "waging war on God", which carry the death penalty by crucifixion. The gruesome punishment involves beheading followed by a public display of the decapitated body.

The interior ministry called him an "instigator of discord and rioting" after the arrest.

But Sheikh Nimr's supporters and family rejected any claims that he incited violence. In a BBC interview, he said he was supporting "the roar of the word against authorities rather than weapons ... the weapon of the word is stronger than bullets, because authorities will profit from a battle of weapons."

In another sermon used in court by a Saudi prosecutor-general, the cleric called for peaceful protests.

"I recommend for young people not to be dragged into confronting swords with swords with a regime that wants to lure people to violence to justify the repression of the protests. We are stronger with our words. We are willing to die. Our movement is not peaceful in the sense of submission. We are peaceable with those who choose peace, but keep your hands off. Martyrdom is the strongest weapon that can defeat the strongest regime," the text read.

Protests began in February 2011 after the start of a pro-democracy uprising in neighbouring Bahrain. The tiny island kingdom has a Shia majority and a Sunni royal family, the al-Khalifa dynasty.

Saudi forces ultimately led the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in the neighbouring kingdom which plunged deeper into sectarian conflict between the ruling Sunni minority and Shi'ite majority.

King Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa has pledged to implement recommendations by an independent commission of inquiry but reforms are progressing slowly and reconciliation talks have stalled. Violence between riot police and protesters is a weekly occurrence.

Decrees approved by King Hamad include up to seven years in jail for criticising him. All protests, sit-ins and gatherings in Manama are banned indefinitely.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/saudi-arabia-shiite-pro-democracy-sheikh-nimr-al-nimr-sentenced-death-1470148

[Ars Moriendi]

Analysis on this execution:
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Saudi Arabia is shooting itself in the foot by executing Shiite cleric

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Nile Bowie is a political analyst and photographer currently residing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He can be reached on Twitter (https://twitter.com/NileBowie) or at nilebowie@gmail.com

Get short URL Published time: October 29, 2014 14:45

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A Shi'ite protester carries a poster of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr during a demonstration outside the Saudi embassy in Sanaa October 18, 2014. (Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)A Shi'ite protester carries a poster of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr during a demonstration outside the Saudi embassy in Sanaa October 18, 2014. (Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

Conflict, Court, Crime, Human rights, Law, NATO, Politics, Protest, Religion, Saudi Arabia, Violence
The House of Saud’s plans to execute a revered Shiite cleric and protest leader reveal the extent to which the regime is vulnerable and desperate to perpetuate itself. Going ahead with the execution would be strategic miscalculation.

Significant political developments have unfolded in Saudi Arabia in recent weeks following a court decision to execute Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, a polarizing Shiite cleric and political activist who has campaigned for civil equality, an inclusive socio-political system, women’s rights, minority rights, and the release of political prisoners. Prosecutors condemned the cleric to death by beheading as punishment for charges of sedition, though the execution date has not yet been set.

Sheikh Nimr has been the fiercest critic of the Kingdom’s absolute Sunni monarchy for the last decade, but gained a considerable public following after leading a series of protests in 2011 in opposition to the Saudi military’s violent intervention and suppression of the pro-democracy movement in neighboring Bahrain, a satellite state with a Shiite majority ruled by a heavy-handed Sunni dynasty. His sermons and political activism continually emphasized non-violent resistance.

The Kingdom’s decision to sentence Nimr to death has complex implications that will push sectarian tensions to fever pitch inside Saudi Arabia and throughout the region, dangerously sharpening tension with Iran. Prominent clerics in Iran and Bahrain, as well as Shiite militant groups such as Hezbollah of Lebanon and the Houthi movement of Yemen, have all condemned the verdict and warned the Kingdom not to proceed with the execution.

These developments are a symptom of the greater Sunni-Shiite sectarian conflict raging throughout Iraq, Syria and other hotspots across the region, representing the most poignant challenge facing the Muslim world in contemporary times. Western governments and corporations have aided and abetted Saudi Arabia and other wildly repressive theocratic monarchies, which have been given carte blanche to shape and spread radical Sunni Islam. The United States has long tolerated the House of Saud exporting fanatic sectarianism throughout the Islamic world in the interest of furthering its own strategic foreign policy objectives.

Saudi Arabia, a key financier of jihadist groups fighting in Syria and Iraq, has used its vast oil wealth to promote the ideology of ultra-conservative Wahhabism in missionaries throughout the Muslim world over the past three decades. It has sought to promote a puritanical and rigidly exclusionist Islam that declares non-Muslims – and Muslims of minority sects – as infidels. The Kingdom is governed by a feudalistic, decadent monarchy bent on entrenching its own power and the uncontested legitimacy of the King as the de facto leader of Sunni Islam.

The rise of the Islamic State organization is the result of reckless Western and Gulf policies that have destabilized both Iraq and Syria. Because this group and their fellow travelers do not recognize the legitimacy of the House of Saud, the Kingdom has constructed a massive fence around its borders, in addition to taking measures to prevent domestic sympathizers from becoming politically active inside the country. Saudi Arabia has recently agreed to an American request that the Kingdom provide a base to train so-called “moderate” Syrian rebel fighters, in the name of fighting extremism.


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Shi'ite protesters shout slogans as they hold posters of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr during a demonstration outside the Saudi embassy in Sanaa October 18, 2014. (Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)Shi'ite protesters shout slogans as they hold posters of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr during a demonstration outside the Saudi embassy in Sanaa October 18, 2014. (Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

The execution of Sheikh Nimr, a revered Shiite religious scholar, will be widely read by fanatic Sunni militia groups as a Saudi endorsement of their campaign of sectarian cleansing and bloodletting of Shiites and minorities in Iraq and Syria, in the interest of crushing any political opposition to radical Wahhabism. The notion that a country so demonstrably sectarian and extremist can be entrusted with the task of training “moderates” is appalling.

The House of Saud has promoted the unsubstantiated narrative that Iran is actively plotting to undermine Sunni Islam, characterizing the country’s Shiite minority as co-conspirators. The two million strong Shiite minorities – who represent some 10 to 15 percent of the population – live in the oil-rich eastern province that is strategically vital to the Saudi economy. This blatant manipulation of the sectarianism is aimed at dividing the citizens of Saudi Arabia from forming a unified opposition to the monarchy.

Sheikh Nimr was shot four times by police and arrested in February 2012, fueling protests throughout the eastern province, mainly in Qatif and Awamiyah, but also wider unrest in Sunni areas such as Hejaz, Mecca, and the capital, Riyadh. Open dissent is rare in the Kingdom, but it is becoming increasingly common with the rise of the internet. More than half the country is under 18-years-old, while the heirs to the throne are rapidly ageing.

Open-minded sections of society are beginning to come to the realization that Saudi Arabia is a brutally theocratic, opulent gerontocracy utterly dependent on energy exports and Western patronage. The rise of the Islamic State group, whose leadership claims to represent all Muslims, has created a situation where Riyadh must demonstrate its Islamic credentials through its uncompromising implementation of Sharia law, which has led to a recent surge of executions by beheading.

Riyadh’s calculation is that executing Sheikh Nimr will help increase support for the monarchy from a society with strong anti-Shiite leanings. It will also polarize the Shiite minority and young cosmopolitan Sunnis, leading to wider unrest and more open displays of dissent against the monarchy. In death, the Saudis would immortalize Sheikh Nimr as a symbol of opposition, thereby shooting themselves in the foot. It would be a major strategic blunder for the House of Saud to give its opponents a martyr.

The Saudi ruling family feels increasingly vulnerable from both internal and external threats, and the pervasive stoking of sectarian tension and anti-Shiite sentiment are an attempt to deflect from other potential forms of dissent, such as the lack of political representation and the dire poverty that many in the Kingdom live under. Sheikh Nimr’s call for compassion, social justice and civil equality undeniably claim the moral high ground. The only move Riyadh can make to delegitimize this message is to fuel irrational, unthinking sectarianism.

In any case, the silence from Washington has been deafening. The US has not given any sign that it is opposed to Sheikh Nimr’s execution and would not be inclined to take the side of a Shiite cleric that Riyadh accuses of being an agent of Tehran. Washington’s missionary democracy promotion is left at the door when dealing with Saudi Arabia, which is far too strategic and beneficial to US military and economic interests to be cut loose as a liability. Sheikh Nimr’s only fault is opposing the wrong regime in the wrong country. If he campaigned with the same program against a government that the West regarded with hostility, the world would know his name.

[Leo Iscariot]

Crucifixion is still a thing?

[LightHouse89]

I thank God I am not an arab every day :picard1: these people are dysfunctional.

[Leto]

I thank God I am not an arab every day :picard1: these people are dysfunctional.
Sand niggers. They have a fucking lot of money, but still act like savages.

[Instinct]

Another shame on Saudi Arabia. Barbarians.

[Hubal]

Sand niggers. They have a fucking lot of money, but still act like savages.

Why is that in your opinion you son of bitch?

[Leto]

Why is that in your opinion you son of bitch?
Because they are radical Muslims. I don't hate all Arabs and don't apply that word to all of them. But Saudis are disliked even among many Muslims from other countries. America trades with them and turns a blind eye to their home affairs. Once the trade is over, the US government will start bashing them just like they do with Iran. Btw, Iran is liberal compared to SA.

[Hubal]

Because they are radical Muslims. I don't hate all Arabs and don't apply that word to all of them. But Saudis are disliked even among many Muslims from other countries. America trades with them and turns a blind eye to their home affairs. Once the trade is over, the US government will start bashing them just like they do with Iran. Btw, Iran is liberal compared to SA.

well said.