A court sitting in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a Shia cleric, Sheik Nimr Baqir al-Nimr to death after he was tried for “sowing discord” and “undermining national unity”.
![Activists and relatives say Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr supported only peaceful protests and eschewed violence [Photo credit: AP]](https://www.thetrentonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/nimr-the-trent.jpg)
BBC reports that al-Nimr’s brother made the announcement after he was tried in Riyadh, the capital of the strictly Islamic state.
He was arrested in 2012 after he was arrested, after receiving gunshot wounds during a deadly unrest in the Eastern Province following spill-over protests from neighbouring Bahrain, where he was a staunch voice in anti-government protests.
There have been complains from the Shia majority of marginalisation from that the Sunni royal family, which was also the cause of the Bahrain protests, although the Saudi authorities deny the claims.
Nimr, a cleric with the rank of ayatollah, was sentenced by the specialised criminal court in Riyadh, which tried terrorism cases on Wednesday, October 15, 2014.
At the beginning of his trial in March 2013, Nimr’s prosecutors asked for him to be crucified.
Human rights groups have spoken out strongly against the trial saying Nimr would not be fairly tried.
