A court in Saudi Arabia sentenced the Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr to death and he was executed on 2nd January, 2014.
Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr’s brother said he was found guilty of seeking “foreign meddling” in the kingdom, “disobeying” its rulers and taking up arms against the security forces.
The cleric was a vocal supporter of the mass anti-government protests that erupted in Eastern Province in 2011.
His arrest two years ago, during which he was shot, triggered days of unrest.
Oil-rich Eastern Province is home to a Shia majority that has long complained of marginalisation at the hands of the Sunni royal family.
Protests began there in February 2011 after the start of the pro-democracy uprising in neighbouring Bahrain, which has a Shia majority and a Sunni royal family.
However, the Saudi authorities denied discriminating against Shia and blamed Iran for stirring up discontent.
A statement by the cleric’s family described the verdict as “discretionary”, saying the judge had the option of imposing a lighter sentence. It also warned that the trial had been “political” and had set a “dangerous precedent for decades to come”.
When Sheikh Nimr, who held the rank of ayatollah, went on trial in March 2013 prosecutors called for his execution by “crucifixion”, a punishment which in Saudi Arabia involves beheading followed by public display of the decapitated body.
The international rights group Amnesty International said the 47 executions demonstrated the Saudi authorities’ “utter disregard for human rights and life” and called Sheikh Nimr’s trial “political and grossly unfair”.