Yemenis hold rally against Saudi execution of Sheikh Nimr

People in Yemen have staged a protest rally against Saudi Arabia’s recent execution of a prominent Shia cleric, setting fire to portraits of members of the Saudi royal family.

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Saudi embassy in the Yemeni capital city of Sana’a on Thursday to voice their anger at the Al Saud regime’s killing of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

The demonstrators burned a banner with the pictures of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud.

The protesters also carried banners reading, “The martyr Nimr, our leader.”

Radwan al-Haimi, a local Houthi leader, who was present at Thursday’s event said, “We came out today as activists, human rights campaigners and politicians to denounce the ugly crime carried out by the Saudi regime against Sheikh Nimr … because he spoke freely and openly and wanted change and demanded justice.”

Sheikh Nimr was executed along with 46 others on January 2, a move which has come under international criticism. Many countries have witnessed large anti-Saudi demonstrations over the past days.

Nimr, a critic of the Riyadh regime, was arrested in 2012 and charged with instigating unrest and undermining the kingdom’s security. A Saudi court sentenced Sheikh Nimr to death in 2014.

The Thursday protest comes as Yemen has been under constant military attacks by Saudi warplanes since late March last year. More than 7,500 people have been killed and over 14,000 others wounded in the campaign.