DUBAI (Sputnik) – Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was among 47 people convicted of terrorism whose execution was announced by the Saudi interior ministry earlier on Saturday.
A journalist with Iran’s Shargh daily has posted photographs of what appeared to be Iranian protesters holding a Saudi flag outside the consulate building.
The journalist has published images and video footage of what appeared to be the Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital of Tehran engulfed in flames. Subsequent photographs depicted protesters storming and looting the embassy building.
Al-Nimr was sentenced to death on charges of inciting hatred and disobedience to the Saudi king in 2014, two years after his arrest during anti-government protests.
Saudi Arabia, among the world’s top state executioners, has stepped up prosecution of terrorism-related crimes in early 2014. The over 150 people executed in 2015 constituted the highest recorded figure in two decades, according to Amnesty International.
