Nimr’s death calls US-Saudi ties into question: Ex-US diplomat
Saudi Arabia’s “barbaric” execution of prominent Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, raises questions about the nature of the US-Saudi ties, says a former US delegate to Riyadh.
The Saudi Interior Ministry announced Sunday that al-Nimr, a critic of the Riyadh regime, has been put to death along with 46 others on charges of “terrorism” and adopting a “Takfiri” ideology.
He was arrested in 2012 in the Qatif region of Shia-dominated Eastern Province, which was the scene of peaceful anti-regime demonstrations at the time.
Nimr’s execution has drawn strong public and political reactions around the world. The monarchy, however, has rejected all the criticism, accusing critics of meddling in its internal affairs.
In an interview with Press TV on Sunday, J. Michael Springmann, a former US diplomat in Saudi Arabia, denounced al-Nimr’s execution as a “murder,” saying that he posed no security threat to the monarchy but encouraged people to practice their rights.
“He was a non-violent person, he was someone who urged people to fight with the weapons of their voice rather than anything else like a firearm,” Springmann said.
“This is absolute barbarism,” the former head of the US visa bureau in Jeddah added. “And the United States allies itself with countries like this.”
Springmann said that the Saudi regime is suppressing its own population and people of other countries like Yemen.
“The Americans are helping the Saudis with information and weapons to bomb the Yemeni people and commit war crimes and human rights violations,” he explained.
“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.
This is while, he argued, Washington is keeping silent on Nimr’s execution, the same approach it has had towards the Saudi aggression in Yemen.
The former US consular in Jeddah, also criticized the Obama administration’s recent changes in visa policy, saying that instead of Iran, the new restrictions should have targeted Saudi Arabia.
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