News   /   Saudi Arabia

Saudis' killing of Sheikh Nimr similar to Daesh executions

A Bahraini woman holds a placard bearing a portrait of prominent Shia Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr during a protest in the village of Jidhafs, west of Manama, against his execution by Saudi authorities, on January 2, 2016.

If Saudi Arabia included a video of the executions of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and the 46 other people they killed on Saturday, it would have nothing short of a Daesh Takfiri terrorist propaganda video. The macabre simile was uttered by the Independent’s Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk.

“All that was missing was the video of the decapitations – although the Kingdom’s 158 beheadings last year were perfectly in tune with the Wahhabi teachings of Daesh,” said Fisk.

Daesh has on multiple occasions released footage portraying elaborate mass executions of hostages. 

Fisk noted that the recent flood of beheadings are “certainly an unprecedented Saudi way of welcoming in the New Year.” 

A bus set on fire by angry Shia Muslims protesting at the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr is seen in the Qatif region of Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province on January 2, 2016.

Following the execution, authorities refused to hand over the cleric’s remains and buried them at an undisclosed cemetery, according to the Sheikh’s brother, Mohamed Nimr.

He said that the family intended to bury Nimr in his home town, Qatif.