Sheikh Nimr Execution Not to Be Taken Lightly: Nasrallah
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Secretary General of Lebanese Hezbollah Resistance Movement Seyed Hassan Nasrallah said the execution of prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr by the Al Saud regime will not be taken lightly.
During a televised address on Sunday, Nasrallah said criticism is forbidden in Saudi Arabia, adding that the country is no place for any cleric of any sect casting the kingdom’s policies into question.
Elaborating on Riyadh’s way of treating criticism, the Hezbollah chief said, “He, who speaks out is executed. This is Saudi Arabia, which wants to spread democracy in the region.”
“He was very courageous regarding what he said,” Nasrallah said, adding, “He was a reformist man” championing the rights of people in the Arabian Peninsula. “He spoke what is right."
“This execution was very shocking.” Through the execution, the kingdom sought to send the Islamic world “a message in blood with the swords, with beheadings,” and “He who criticizes us as Al Saud, his blood will be spilled,” Nasrallah said, Press TV reported.
He added that Saudi Arabia cannot accept it either when there are people in Yemen “who object and speak the truth.” Yemen has been under military attacks by Saudi Arabia since late March. More than 7,500 people have been killed and over 14,000 others injured since March.
He also blasted Riyadh for its way of promoting divisions across the Muslim world, saying when there is difference between Sunnis and Shiites“look for Saudi Arabia.”
“Has not the time come to say with courage to the whole world that the main source and the launching pad for Takfiri ideology…is from this regime, from this family,” Nasrallah noted, adding, “They are partners in all the blood which is spilled in the Arab and Islamic countries.”
“Any hope for Saudi rational behavior has ended,” Nasrallah said, adding, “When a regime loses its mind that means it has reached the abyss.”
The remarks by Nasrallah came one day after Saudi Arabia executed 47 prisoners, including Sheikh Nimr. Among them were four Shiite Muslims accused of anti-government protests in recent years.
The executions took place in 12 cities in Saudi Arabia, four prisons using firing squads and the others beheading. The bodies were then hanged from gibbets in the most severe form of punishment available in the kingdom's law.
Sheikh Nimr had been detained in July 2012 on charges of delivering anti-regime speeches and defending political prisoners.