03 January 2016•Update: 05 January 2016
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has condemned Tehran’s official reaction to the execution on Saturday of 47 people -- including a prominent Shia cleric -- convicted of having committed acts of "terrorism", the country’s official SPA news agency reported Sunday.
A Saudi Foreign Ministry official quoted anonymously by the news agency described official statements issued by Tehran in reaction to the executions as "unacceptable".
"Iran has shown its true colors by revealing its opinion of the terrorists who were executed, indicating its support for terrorism," the official was quoted as saying.
Iran, the same source asserted, "pursues a policy of polarization and is responsible for escalating the chaos."
The official also pointed out that Iran has been repeatedly accused by the UN of supporting terrorism.
He also said that hundreds of Iranians had been executed last year in the absence of clear legal due process.
On Saturday, the Saudi authorities executed 45 Saudi citizens -- along with one Egyptian and one Chadian national -- who had been convicted of committing acts of terrorism, according to a Saudi government statement cited by the news agency.
Among those executed was Shia Muslim cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, who, before his arrest in July of 2012, had led mass protests against the Saudi authorities in the kingdom’s eastern Qatif province.
In a ruling handed down by a top Saudi court on Oct. 25, al-Nimr was convicted of "inciting sedition and revolt".
The group of convicts executed Saturday also included several individuals linked to the Al-Qaeda militant group.
Following al-Nimr’s execution, predominantly-Shia Iran warned that Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia would pay "a heavy price" for his death.
According to the Iranian Republic News Agency, the Iranian Foreign Ministry has summoned Saudi Arabia’s charge d'affaires in Tehran and strongly condemned al-Nimr’s execution.
Fierce regional rivals, Tehran and Riyadh currently support opposing sides in ongoing conflicts in both Syria and Yemen.
