Execution of Saudi cleric latest blow to hopes of rapprochement with Iran

By Sam Wilkin DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian clerics, officials and students attacked Sunni Muslim-ruled Saudi Arabia on Saturday for executing Shi’ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a move that seemed to further doom any hope of rapprochement between two ideologically opposed powers vying for influence across the region. Nimr, executed along with three other Shi’ites and dozens of al Qaeda members, is seen in Iran as the champion of a Shi’ite minority oppressed in Saudi Arabia, and Tehran had made clear that it saw the terrorism charges against him as fabricated. Iran summoned the Saudi charge d’affaires in Tehran, accusing the kingdom of using terrorism as a pretext to suppress peaceful dissent among Shi’ites, who complain of systemic discrimination.

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Execution of Saudi cleric latest blow to hopes of rapprochement with Iran