Saudi Defense Ministry’s Website Hacked in Protest at Sheikh Nimr’s Execution

A group of young Saudi hackers took down the website of Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry to show their protest at the execution of prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr by the kingdom.
The Saudi defense ministry’s website was hacked on Sunday night by a group of Young Saudis called ‘Brave Youth Fighting Religious Taboos’ and it was inaccessible for several hours.

The hackers said their cyberattack on the defense ministry’s website was meant as a retribution for the execution of Sheikh Nimr by the Riyadh government.

“We will continue defending the religious sanctities and also targeting the enemies and oppressors involved in the killing of the freedom-seekers and revolutionaries,” the hackers said in a statement issued after hacking the website.

Saudi Arabia announced on Saturday that it had executed the prominent Shiite Muslim cleric. Hours later, Sunni and Shiite Muslims from across the world rushed to condemn his execution, vowing revenge.

In a relevant development in May, the internal Internet network belonging to the Saudi Foreign Ministry had come under a cyber-attack.

The cyber-attack disclosed over 1 million secret and classified documents of the Saudi government which showed the kingdom’s hostile and devilish policies against other countries of the world, including their support for the terrorists in Syria and Iraq.