Nimr al-Nimr was executed with others accused of engaging in treasonable acts
Iran has warned Saudi Arabia it will pay "a high price" for executing prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. Saudi Arabia executed 47 "terrorists", mostly suspected Al Qaeda members.
Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of aiding extremists and silencing critics by execution. Nimr al-Nimr's brother calls for calm. Reports of police clashing with Sheikh Nimr supporters in Bahrain.
Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry said 47 people, mostly suspected Al Qaeda members but also Sheikh Nimr, were executed after being convicted of adopting the radical "takfiri" ideology, joining "terrorist organisations" and implementing various "criminal plots".
The conservative Islamic kingdom, which usually executes people by public beheading, detained thousands of militant Islamists after a series of Al Qaeda attacks from 2003 to 2006 that killed hundreds, and has convicted hundreds of them.
However, it also detained hundreds of members of its Shiite minority after protests from 2011 to 2013, during which several policemen were killed in shooting and petrol bomb attacks.
Sheikh Nimr, a 56-year-old cleric, was a driving force of the protests that broke out in 2011 in the Sunni-ruled kingdom's east, where the Shiite minority complains of marginalisation.
The list of those killed does not include Sheikh Nimr's nephew, Ali al-Nimr, who was 17 when he was arrested following the protests.
The Interior Ministry statement began with Koranic verses justifying the use of execution and state television showed footage of the aftermath of Al Qaeda attacks in the last decade. We hope that any reactions would be confined to a peaceful framework. No-one should have any reaction outside this peaceful framework. Enough bloodshed.
Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh appeared on television soon after to describe the executions as just. The execution has angered Saudi Arabia's main regional rival, Shiite Iran, with the country's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari threatening retaliation.
"The Saudi Government supports terrorist movements and extremists, but confronts domestic critics with oppression and execution ... the Saudi Government will pay a high price for following these policies," Mr Ansari said.
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