Saudi Arabia will pay “a high price” for executing prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday, Iran’s foreign ministry said.
“The Saudi government supports terrorist movements and extremists, but confronts domestic critics with oppression and execution... It will pay a high price for following these policies,” Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari was quoted by the official IRNA news agency.
Nimr, 56, was a driving force of the protests that broke out in 2011 in Eastern Province, where the Shia minority of Saudi Arabia complains of marginalisation.
“The execution of a figure like Sheikh al-Nimr, who had no means to follow his political and religious goals but through speaking out, merely shows the extent of irresponsibility,” said Ansari.