The Shafaqna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies received worrying information pointing to the pending execution by beheading of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, nephew to late Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. A young Shia Muslim from the eastern Saudi Arabian province of Qatif, Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, was, like many others, arrested on account his faith has long upset al-Saud royals.
Accused of conspiracy against the king, Ali Mohammed al-Nimr never stood a chance … The victim of a viciously sectarian regime which sole existence has been to oppress religious minorities to better asset its own absolutism: Wahhabism, Saudi Arabia has been a grand scale concentration camp for Shia Muslims.
Brutalized for their allegiance lies with the House of the Prophet Mohammed and not with that of al-Saud, Shia Muslims have long been labelled as apostates – infidels to be disposed of should they dare proclaim their right to be, and their right to freely exercise their faith.
Activists close to the family of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr have warned that the regime is currently following the same pattern of behaviour it did prior to Sheikh al-Nimr’s death.
A report in the International Business Times read this July 28: “A day before Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was beheaded on New Year’s Day 2016, a Saudi-based Twitter account with more than 2.4 million followers announced that there were only a few hours left until the Shia cleric’s death sentence would be carried out.
As Saudi Arabia does not announce executions in advance – even to the families of the accused – activists noted that @KSA24 must either be a state-controlled account or a government insider.”
And: “Activists have noted that the Twitter account has begun to turn its attention to Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, Sheikh Nimr’s nephew, who faces beheading and crucifixion after his conviction last year on a swathe of charges related to organising anti-government protests. The European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights says that the account has been tweeting about al-Nimr in recent days and they fear his death sentence could be imminent.”
So far it is public outrage and the fierce condemnation from politicians of the calibre of Jeremy Corbyn, which have prevented Riyadh from murdering the youths … today many fear that King Salman’s reluctance to prompt world anger could have subsided enough to sign the execution order.
“The account @KSA24 has shown renewed interest in young protester Ali Al-Nimr case, based on past accuracy of tweets from this account regarding Sheikh Nimr, this is a worrying signal,” said Ali Adubisi, director of the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights in Berlin.
Three young men today face immediate death: Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon and Abdullah al-Zaher. Time is a luxury we don’t have, as three lives stand in the balance.
It is only by leaning heavily on our state representatives that we can hope overturn such an injustice.
Those three boys belong with their family, not in jail.
