Nimr al-Nimr (1959-2 January 2016) was a Shi'ite cleric and democracy activist from Saudi Arabia. He called for vocal protests against the government, and he took the lead in the 2011-12 Saudi Arabian protests. On 8 July 2012 he was shot and arrested by the Saudi police, and on 2 January 2016 he was executed after years of torture in prison.
Biography[]
Nimr al-Nimr was born in 1959, and he studied in Iran and Syria in theology for ten years. By 2008, he had become a Shi'ite sheikh in al-Awamiyah and by 2009 had become the leader of Friday prayers there. Nimr al-Nimr became an activist for both Shi'ite rights and democracy, saying that he supported the idea of election, wanted the Kurds to have majority rule over Iraqi Kurdistan, and said that Shia ayatollahs would not promote murder or violence in the name of God. Although he said that the United States wanted to humiliate the world, in August 2008 he said that the USA was a natural ally of Shia Islam because both had systems based on justice and liberty. al-Nimr also supported the idea of inviting US intervention in Saudi affairs if internal conflict began in the country.
al-Nimr was a major leader in the 2011-12 Saudi Arabian protests and was happy when Minister of the Interior Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz died on 16 June 2012, saying that his body would be eaten by worms and subjected to the torments of hell in response to the Saudi police force's crimes against Shi'ites and activists. He was arrested in 2004, 2006, and later in July 2012 for speaking out against the government; on 8 July 2012 he was shot by police and taken into custody. He was charged with instigating unrest, and while in prison he was subject to torture. In response, he took part in a hunger strike for over 45 days, weakening himself. Amnesty International and other organizations asked for his release and a stay of execution, but on 2 January 2016 he was executed, the same day as the executions of Faris Ahmed Jamaan al-Showeel al-Zahrani and 46 others for terrorism.