07 January 2016By Abdulrahman Al-Rashed
A New York Times reporter deleted a tweet posted on his account saying that
all those executed in Saudi Arabia were Shia, only to later clarify that the
information was incorrect. Nevertheless, he failed to point out the fact that
only four of the condemned were Shia and the remaining 43 were Sunnis.
On the other hand, the BBC World Service cut the news short summarizing it not
as the execution of 47 convicts but that of one man, Nimr al- Nimr. However,
in a separate news flash it mentioned one other executed, the convicted
murderer of BBC's cameraman.
We certainly have an understanding of why Iran is leading a media campaign
against the executions and targeting Saudi Arabia. It is simply at a publicity
and political war with its Saudi neighboring kingdom, ever since it decided on
entering the sectarian wars in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.
Nevertheless, why are others driving behind Iranian publicity campaign without
even examining both sides of the story, instead of just one? Was Nimr al-Nimr
a peaceful protestor? Definitely not. Was al-Nimr the leader of Shia?
Certainly not, he was just like other extremist religious clergy men. Does his
speech criticize the Saudi government? Yes, so does the ones given by ISIS
leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Saudi Arabia cannot execute guilty Sunni preachers on the provisions of
incitement leading to murder, but Shia convicts guilty of the same crime
otherwise. Perpetrators of the same crime must be punished equally with no
political exceptions.
Prisons in Saudi Arabia incarcerate over 5,000 extremists, hundreds of whom
are convicted, with a Saudi Sunni majority, only harboring a few tens of Saudi
Shiites.
Nimr al-Nimr is a Saudi religious extremist figure among the Shia. He is
similar to Faris al-Shuwail, the extremist Sunni religious figure, and Hamad
al- Hamdi one of the sheikhs of Sunni extremism.
All three men did not shed blood with their own hands, but were all convicted
by the Saudi judiciary. According to the law, their crimes was incitement
toward violence, and their punishment came because they pushed their followers
to commit murder and were directly involved in their violence-based actions.
Al-Hamidi's group kidnapped and murdered Paul Johnson, an American, and froze
his decapitated head for three days in the refrigerator of the house where
they were arrested. Al-Hamidi might have not murdered Johnson personally, yet
his followers did so based on his teaching.
Abdul-Aziz Ataiwalai, Sunni, al-Qaeda's operations media broadcaster was also
executed. He too did not directly kill anyone, yet he recruited, incited, and
armed others.
Furthermore, al-Nimr was an extremist sheikh, and it is not true that he was a
leading politician. He is equal to the Sunni extremist group leaders: he
incites militant protests, fights, and gathers funds and arms.
Al-Nimr was caught while helping to smuggle a convicted murderer out of
prison. He had his own specialized group identified by 23 wanted members who
are accused of armed attacks, four of whom have surrendered themselves to the
authorities and were later released. Others were killed in confrontations, and
some are still on the run.
Moreover Nimr al-Nimr was in a different car when purposely hit a police car
chasing the wanted Hussein al-Rabi' that night, and was arrested two months
later. During al-Nimr's arrest, another vehicle shot out a rain of bullets at
security forces, which wounded al-Nimr, along with others.
In accordance to Saudi laws, al-Nimr was legally responsible of inciting,
recruiting and for the heinous crimes his followers have been carrying out
based on his teachings.
Their wrongs are large in number: They have murdered six policemen in separate
incidents, tens were injured, they killed three civilian motorbike riders,
randomly shot at foreigner labor workers to obstruct progress, and killed a
Bengali worker.
Al- Nimr's supporters have also shot at a German diplomatic vehicle, setting
it on fire. However the two diplomats survived and the perpetrator was later
caught.
Religious figures are not immune to sin, especially when they carry out
incitement that lead to the murder of civilians, regardless if they are Sunni,
Shia, or belong to another religion.
Our problem today, actually the world's problem today, is extremist religious
figures ushering in destruction and threatening peace everywhere. It is not
logical to ask Saudis to carry out justice on Sunni religious leaders alone
and overlook others involved.
Al Rashed is the general manager of Al -Arabiya television. He is also the
former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly
magazine, Al Majalla. He is also a senior Columnist in the daily newspapers
of Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is a US post-graduate degree in mass
communications. He has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs. He
is currently based in Dubai.
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