Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and six others are accused of orchestrating protests between 2011 and 2013 in which 20 people died

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Saudi Arabia’s supreme court has rejected an appeal against the death sentence passed earlier this year on on the Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who had called for pro-democracy demonstrations and whose arrest in 2012 sparked protests in which three people died.

Nimr’s brother Mohammed said the sentence had been upheld after hearings that took place without his lawyers or family members being given prior notice. His fate now rests with King Salman, who is empowered to issue a pardon.

Nimr and six other Saudi Shias, including his nephew Ali, have been sentenced to death and then to have their bodies put on public display in the most severe penalty available to judges in the Sunni majority kingdom.

“We don’t want anything to happen to him or to Ali or the other young men,” Mohammed al-Nimr said. Political analysts who follow Saudi Shia politics have warned that widespread protests may erupt if the executions are carried out.

More than 20 Shias were killed in demonstrations in the Eastern province district of Qatif between 2011 and 2013, called in protest against sectarian discrimination, Riyadh’s role in ending protests in Bahrain and the fate of previously detained local people.

Three were killed in protests in the two days after Nimr’s arrest, along with a police officer. The deaths were all officially described as having happened after exchanges of fire prompted by shooting or petrol bomb attacks on police, but local activists said many occurred during peaceful protests.

Nimr had long been regarded as the most vocal Shia leader in Qatif, willing to publicly criticise the ruling al-Saud family and call for elections. He was, however, careful to avoid calling for violence, analysts say.

That did not prevent the Saudi interior ministry from accusing him of being behind attacks on police, alongside a group of other suspects it said were working on behalf of Shia Iran, the kingdom’s main regional rival.

The kingdom’s judiciary is made up of clerics of the strict Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam, which reviles Shias as heretical and allows judges extensive scope to interpret Islamic law and pass sentences as they see fit.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said in an interview with state TV on Sunday that “the execution of Sheikh Nimr would mean Saudi Arabia facing a heavy cost”.

Saudi Arabia has complained through its London embassy about accusations in western media that Ali al-Nimr’s sentencing was politically motivated.

Last week the British prime minister, David Cameron, said he did not expect Ali al-Nimr to be executed.