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[h=4]Saudi Arabia severs ties with Iran[/h]Protesters<span style="color: Red;">*</span>angered by the execution of a top<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Shiite cleric<span style="color: Red;">*</span>overrun Saudi embassy in Tehran.
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Iran's supreme leader called Saudi Arabia's execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr a "huge crime."
Video provided by AFP Newslook
Iranians protest outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran on Jan. 3, 2016.(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)
Saudi Arabia announced Sunday that it was severing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>ties with Iran, hours after Iranian protesters set fires in the Saudi embassy compound<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in Tehran.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Iranian diplomats and staff had 48 hours to leave his country, the Associated Press reported.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Tensions<span style="color: Red;">*</span>between the Middle East powers have intensified since the Saudis announced the execution Saturday of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Sheik<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Nimr<span style="color: Red;">*</span>al-Nimr, a beloved cleric among Shiite Muslims known as a voice for free Saudi elections during the Arab Spring protests.
Al-Nimr was among 47 people executed by the Sunni-led Saudi government Saturday, and news of his death set off an outcry across much of the Muslim world. In Shiite-dominated Iran, angry protesters set fires and destroyed documents at the Saudi embassy before<span style="color: Red;">*</span>security forces restored order Sunday, Iran's ISNA news agency said.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani criticized the embassy riot.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"In no way is this justifiable and foremost disrespects Iran," he said. "Such ugly acts (must be)<span style="color: Red;">*</span>stopped,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and full security of political missions assured."
More than 40 arrests were<span style="color: Red;">*</span>made, and more were possible, Tehran prosecutor Abbas<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Jafari-Dowlatabadi<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Iranian leaders asked that protesters gather at the public square rather than at "diplomatic sites,"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>ISNA reported.
USA TODAY
Iranian protesters overrun Saudi embassy, set fires
Most of those executed by Saudi Arabia were Sunnis linked to al-Qaeda attacks in the kingdom. Al-Nimr was among four Shiites killed.
The<span style="color: Red;">*</span>U.S. State Department called on Tehran to protect the Saudi embassy and urged both nations to avoid "exacerbating sectarian tensions."
A Saudi official<span style="color: Red;">*</span>defended Saturday's executions as "implementation of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>sharia<span style="color: Red;">*</span>rulings." The official,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Ali bin Suleiman Al-Obaid, vice general president for Prophet's Holy Mosque Affairs, also said those who were executed were terrorists.
Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that "divine revenge will seize oppressors" responsible for "the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>martyrdom and unfair bloodshed" of al-Nimr.
Protesters in Tehran had scaled a chain-link fence protecting the embassy, took down the Saudi flag and set fires inside, according to tweets from journalist<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Sobhan Hassanvand<span style="color: Red;">*</span>at the privately owned Shargh newspaper. But the mob didn't destroy the flag because it is emblazoned with the Muslim statement of faith that Shiites and Sunnis share:<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet."
"Huge crowd of people rushed toward the entrance gate of the building passing through resisting police forces and managed to break the gate,” according to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Sadra Saeidian of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Mehr News.
Protesters also gathered<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in Bahrain, Lebanon and even in India, Al-Jazeera reported.
Iraqi Prime Minister haider Al-Abadi said he was "shocked and saddened" by al-Nimr's death. "Peaceful opposition is a fundamental right. Repression does not last," he tweeted.
Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Shiite militia in Lebanon,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said al-Nimr's execution would<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"plague the Al Saud until the Day of Resurrection," the BBC reported.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry had<span style="color: Red;">*</span>summoned the deputy head of the Saudi mission in Tehran to protest the execution.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian accused<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Saudi Arabia of triggering<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a new conflict in the region after the September disaster that killed more than 2,000 pilgrims who were suffocated or crushed during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mina, Mecca,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>ISNA reported.
Al-Nimr was a popular figure among young Shiite Saudis<span style="color: Red;">*</span>during the Arab Spring protests in 2011-2012. He was critical of the Saudi government and but denied advocating violence.
"The roar of the word against authorities rather than weapons," he told the BBC in 2011.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Al-Nimr was shot by security forces and arrested in 2012. He was sentenced to die two years later.
The mass executions — beheading<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and shootings —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"only further stains Saudi Arabia's troubling human rights record," said Sarah Leah, Middle East director for the U.S.-based non-profit Human Rights Watch.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon was “deeply dismayed” by the executions, according to a U.N. statement.
Contributing: Gregg Zoroya
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