Iraqi leaders are calling for the closure of Riyadh’s newly reopened embassy in Baghdad.  Khalaf Abdelsamad, who heads the parliamentary bloc of Iraq’s Shia Dawa party - to which both Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his predecessor Nuri al-Maliki belong - said Baghdad should take action.  “Abdelsamad urges the Iraqi government to close down the Saudi embassy, expel the ambassador and execute all Saudi terrorists in Iraqi prisons,” a statement from his office said.  The Saudi embassy in Baghdad only just reopened on 15 December, a quarter of a century after relations were broken over Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. The ambassador himself has only been in the country for three days.  “The execution of Sheikh al-Nimr will have serious consequences and bring about the end of the Al-Saud (royal family’s) rule,” Abdelsamad’s office said.  Asaib Ahl al-Haq, one of the most powerful Shia militias in the country, reacted with similar demands. Meanwhile, Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis, a top leader in the powerful Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitary group that is dominated by Tehran-backed militias, condemned Nimr’s execution.  “Even as the rulers of Saudi Arabia are supporting terror in the entire world by sending takfiris, weapons and car bombs to Muslim countries, today they executed the most honest man in Saudi Arabia,” he said in a statement.  Takfir is a part of the ideology of some extremist Sunni groups - such as the Islamic State group that controls parts of Iraq and Syria - that considers other Muslims infidels.  Mohandis has close ties with Tehran, which reacted by warning Saudi Arabia that it would pay a “high price”.  “The Saudi government supports terrorist movements and extremists, but confronts domestic critics with oppression and execution,” an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said.
Follow the latest updates as religious leaders and councils warn of repercussions for killing of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr