Protest in iran over killing of shiite clerk in saudi arabia

Iran’s supreme leader warned Sunday that Saudi Arabia would face “divine revenge” for executing a Shiite cleric as condemnation also poured in from Iraq and protesters took to the streets. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was joined in his condemnation of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr’s death by Iraq’s top Shiite authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who called the death sentence an unjust act of aggression. Their comments came as protests in Iran on Sunday spread to Bahrain, Pakistan, Indian Kashmir and Lebanon a day after a mob set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran and ransacked it before dozens were arrested. On top of the ongoing wars in Syria and Yemen, Nimr’s execution set the Middle East’s main Shiite countries further apart from their Sunni counterpart in Riyadh. Nimr, a Saudi Shiite who spent more than a decade studying theology at Iran’s seminaries, was a force behind anti-government protests in eastern Saudi Arabia in 2011. He was put to death Saturday along with 46 Shiite activists and Sunnis who Saudi Arabia said were involved in Al-Qaeda killings. Some were beheaded, others were shot by firing squad. The 56-year-old’s execution also sparked concern in the United Nations, the European Union and the United States and was deplored by Germany and France. Britain, which is careful to protect deep trade and investment links with Saudi