News / Persian Gulf

35 Bahrainis detained in demo against Saudi execution of Nimr

Tuesday, 05 January 2016 4:29 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 05 January 2016 7:06 PM ]

A Bahraini woman holds a poster of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr during clashes with riot police following a protest against the execution Nimr by Saudi authorities, in the village of Al Daih, Bahrain, January 4, 2016. ©AFP

Bahraini regime forces have arrested at least 35 people during a protest against Saudi Arabia’s recent execution of a prominent Shia clergyman.

On Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of people took to the streets of Sitra, situated some 12 kilometers (seven miles) southeast of the Bahraini capital city of Manama, to voice their anger at the Al Saud regime’s killing of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Bahraini police used tear gas and birdshot to disperse the protesters, some of whom were throwing gasoline bombs. Several demonstrators suffered birdshot wounds.

Sheikh Nimr was a supporter of the Bahraini uprising against the Al Khalifa regime, which began in February 2011.

On January 2, the Saudi Interior Ministry announced that the cleric along with 46 others, who were convicted of being involved in “terrorism” and adopting a “Takfiri” ideology, had been put to death.

The Saudi execution has come under widespread criticism - though mildly - from the EU and the US as well as some of the kingdom's own allies.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also expressed deep dismay at the execution, calling on the Riyadh regime to commute all death sentences handed down in the kingdom.

Protesters holding posters of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr protest against his execution by Saudi authorities, in the village of Sanabis, Bahrain, January 3, 2016. ©Reuters

Nimr, a critic of the Riyadh regime, was arrested in 2012 in the Qatif region of Shia-dominated Eastern Province, which was the scene of peaceful anti-regime demonstrations at the time.

He was charged with instigating unrest and undermining the kingdom’s security. He had rejected all the charges as baseless.

In 2014, a Saudi court sentenced Sheikh Nimr to death, provoking widespread global condemnations.

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