Saudi Arabia to pay heavy price if Nimr executed: Iran cleric
PRESSTV (Iran) Fri Oct 24, 2014 11:14AM GMT
http://presstv.com/detail/2014/10/24/383445/s-arabia-to-pay-price-if-nimr-executed/

A senior Iranian cleric has warned Saudi Arabia against executing a death
sentence recently handed down to prominent Saudi Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr
al-Nimr.

“We warn Saudi Arabia … that this government will pay a heavy price for a
[possible] execution of a Shia cleric,” Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahhedi
Kermani told worshippers at the weekly Friday Prayers in Tehran.

If the death sentence is carried out, said the ayatollah, “this injustice”
will spell doom for those who have meted out the punishment.

On October 16, Nimr was sentenced to death at the Specialized Criminal Court
in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. In reaction to the sentence, people took to
streets in the city of Qatif in Eastern Province to condemn the move.

The senior Saudi Shia cleric, who was attacked and arrested in July 2012, is
accused of delivering anti-regime speeches and defending political
prisoners.

Referring to ongoing US-led airstrikes against ISIL Takfiri militants in
Syria, Movahhedi Kermani said the US-led coalition is aimed at “destroying
the infrastructure of Syria.”

The comments came as US-led airstrikes continue to target Syrian
infrastructure under the control of ISIL terrorists in northern and eastern
Syria, reportedly leading to more civilian deaths.

Since September 22, the US and its allies, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain,
the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan, have been conducting airstrikes
against the ISIL inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a
UN mandate. The airstrikes are an extension of the US-led aerial campaign
against ISIL positions in Iraq.

While most European governments have refrained from joining the US-led air
campaign in Syria, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Britain are
contributing to the US campaign.

Washington has been supporting the militants operating against the
government in Syria since March 2011. Many ISIL terrorists have reportedly
received training by the CIA in Jordan and Turkey. Saudi Arabia and Qatar
have been staunch supporters of militants fighting the Syrian government.

DB/NN/KA