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Iranian and Turkish demonstrators hold pictures of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr as they protest outside the Saudi Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016, following Saudi Arabia’s execution of 47 prisoners in one day.
Al-Jubeir said late Sunday evening that Iranian diplomatic personnel had 48 hours to leave the country and all Saudi diplomatic personnel in Iran were being recalled home.
Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran early on Sunday and Shi’ite Iran’s top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, predicted “divine vengeance” for the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, an outspoken opponent of the ruling Al Saudi family.
“The unjustly spilled blood of this oppressed martyr will no doubt soon show its effect and divine vengeance will befall Saudi politicians”, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying by Iran’s state television.
The ultraconservative Sunni kingdom and Shiite powerhouse Iran have waged a bitter struggle for regional power for years.
Saudi Arabia and Iran are locked in a proxy war in Syria, where Iran-backed Shiite militias are fighting Saudi-backed Sunni rebels battling to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Meanwhile, Al-Nimr’s supporters in eastern Saudi Arabia prepared for three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya, some 390 kilometers northeast from the capital, Riyadh, in the kingdom’s al-Qatif region. The Saudi interior ministry announced the executions on Saturday, listing the names of the 47 killed, all of whom had been convicted on charges of terrorism.
– Saudi Arabia sent troops to help Bahrain quash mass pro-democracy protests, fearing the mostly Shi’ite opposition would align with Iran. “The Iranian ambassador was received and briefed on this”. The two countries have also had strained ties over Iran’s nuclear program, with Saudi Arabia denouncing the United States’ deal with Tehran earlier in 2015.
Iran’s foreign ministry said that Saudi Arabia would “pay a high price” for executing the cleric.
Demonstrators protesting against the execution of the cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, broke into the embassy building, smashed furniture and started fires before being ejected by police. Elsewhere in Iran, the Saudi Consulate in the city of Mashhad was also attacked by a group connected to Iran’s Elite Revolutionary Guards.
That attack came after Saturday’s execution of al-Nimr, a fervent dissident against the Sunni Muslim Saudi royal family who called for their deposal during the Arab spring uprisings in 2011. On Saturday, there were calls for the embassy to be shut down again.
Aimen Dean, a Saudi analyst who now runs a political consultancy based in Dubai, says Nimr was never a “top-tier” Shia cleric.
“The US claims to promote – using the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor- to promote and protect democracy” and human rights around the world, Springmann added.
Authorities shot al-Nimr in the leg during the arrest, and his family said that he had been denied proper treatment for his wounds during his imprisonment – much of which Amnesty said was spent in solitary confinement.
“We are particularly concerned that the execution of (al-Nimr) risks exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time when they urgently need to be reduced”, spokesman John Kirby said.
However, on Sunday, Mr. Jubeir said, those executed had received “fair and transparent” trials and were convicted of carrying out “terrorist operations that led to the deaths of innocents”.
