By Ibrahim Usman with Agency Reports
Islamic Republic of Iran has strongly condemned the death sentence passed by the Saudi Arabian authorities on prominent Islamic cleric, Ayatullah Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, saying that the death sentence is capable of generating reaction and anger from the Muslim world.
Speaking on the issue, deputy foreign minister for Arab countries and Africa Husain Amir Abdullahiyan said, the death sentence is capable of sparking anger and reaction across people from all segments.
Similarly, Hezbollah issued a statement in which it asserted that the Saudi authorities are taking a very serious step by driving one of the courts to issue a death sentence against a prestigious scholarly personality, based on flimsy charges.
The statement added that, “this unjust sentence is political par excellence and reflects the exclusionary and repressive policy adopted by the Saudi authorities against a wide and influential segment of the citizens because they cannot tolerate the free expression and the peaceful struggle of this oppressed segment to achieve the legitimate demands.
“Hezbollah condemns this unjust and illegitimate sentence and calls on the Saudi authorities to undo it and to listen to the legitimate demands of the citizens who are seeking to obtain the minimum of their rights, recognized by the religions as well as the divine canons and the international laws.”
Hezbollah calls on the international agencies concerned with the human rights, the scholarly organizations in the Islamic world and all the active powers in our nation to press on the Saudi authorities in order to prevent it from committing the crime of executing this grand scholar and in order to release him with the best of liberty of dignity”, the statement concluded.
In its response, Amnesty International has also expressed concern over the unpopular sentence, and called on the Saudi authorities to reverse it.
It described the sentences as part of decade long human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia, and politics of suppressing and gagging dissident voices against the Saudi regime.
Thousands of protesters thronged the streets of Qatif to oppose the death sentence, condemn the Saudi authorities and express support to Sheikh al-Nimr.