Baku-APA. A crowd of protesters in the second most populous Iranian city of Mashhad attempted to set the Saudi consulate ablaze after the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric in the Sunni monarch, APA reports quoting Sputnik.
Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was among 47 people convicted of terrorism whose execution was announced by the Saudi interior ministry earlier on Saturday.
Protesters in Mashhad brought highly flammable materials to the Saudi consulate in the city, the Saudi Sabq newspaper reported. A certain number of the protesters were able to scale the wire fence surrounding the consulate, the outlet added.
A journalist with Iran’s Shargh daily has posted photographs of what appeared to be Iranian protesters holding a Saudi flag outside the consulate building.
The journalist has published images and video footage of what appeared to be the Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital of Tehran engulfed in flames. Subsequent photographs depicted protesters storming and looting the embassy building.
Al-Nimr was sentenced to death on charges of inciting hatred and disobedience to the Saudi king in 2014, two years after his arrest during anti-government protests.
Saudi Arabia, among the world’s top state executioners, has stepped up prosecution of terrorism-related crimes in early 2014. The over 150 people executed in 2015 constituted the highest recorded figure in two decades, according to Amnesty International.
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Iranian protesters against the execution of a Shi'ite leader by Saudi Arabia set parts of Saudi consulate in fire in Iran's northeastern religious city of Mashhad on Saturday.
The move came after the Saudi Interior Ministry announced on Saturday that 47 people, including the prominent Shi'ite leader Nimr al-Nimr, were executed on terrorist charges.
The protesters gathered in front of the Saudi consulate and chanted slogans against the Arab state's authorities, according to the report.
They pulled down the flag of Saudi Arabia from the building of the consulate and throw handmade crackers which caused fire in part of the building, it said.
Earlier in the day, Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned Saudi Arabian charge d'affaires to Tehran and strongly condemned the execution of Nimr al-Nimr.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian conveyed the strong protest of Islamic republic to the Saudi envoy, Ahmed al-Muwallid, over what he called the "irresponsible behavior" of the Saudi officials in this regard, according to the state TV.
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