Archive for category: News

In the statement, the center called for unconditional release of the cleric, ahlebeyt.ch website reported.

It described the charges leveled against Sheikh Nimr as baseless.

The statement noted that Sheikh Nimr has been unjustly arrested and tortured and has not have access to a lawyer.

Ayatollah Nimr, who has been in detention since July 2012, has been sentenced to death by a Saudi court.

Saudi Arabia’s Court of Appeals and Supreme Court have approved the death sentence handed to the senior Shia cleric.

According to some media outlets, the death sentence has been referred to the interior ministry and then the king’s office for the final go-ahead.

Nimr’s lawyer, Sadeq al-Jubran, says Nimr could be executed as soon as the Saudi monarch approves his sentence.

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Syria’s army units, backed by national defense forces, retook control of the villages, including Jamaymah, Hadidah and Maryameen, in Aleppo’s southern countryside over the past two days.

“We secured over six villages during the past 24 hours in the southern countryside. We are determined to continue advancing in our offensive,” a Syrian army commander said on Sunday.

Also on Sunday, Syrian forces retook control of the two other villages of Shalashil and Tel Dadeen, inflicting heavy losses on the terrorists who were there.

The new gains come two weeks after Syrian armed forces, backed by Russian air support, launched a large-scale military offensive against Takfiri terrorists in the southern countryside of Aleppo.

In recent days, Syrian army units and popular fighters have engaged the extremists on several fronts in the country.

Syria’s fight against terrorism has entered a new phase. In late September, Russia accepted a request from Damascus and began an aerial campaign against the positions of the terrorist groups that have been operating in the Arab state over the past four years.

Russia says Takfiri Daesh terrorists appear to be abandoning their bases in Syria, as army forces, backed by Moscow’s airpower, continue to make more gains against the militants on different fronts.

The conflict in Syria has killed more than 250,000 since March 2011, according to the UN. More than 12 million people, including over 5.6 million children, also remain in need of humanitarian assistance.

The foreign-sponsored militancy has displaced 7.6 million Syrians.

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“Is it fair that a person is entitled to the award of Sakharov due to his defense of freedom of expression, but a religious scholar who practices his religious duty to direct human beings with his insightful comments is doomed to be executed?,” Ayatollah Ramezani said during his Friday sermon on October 30 in Hamburg.

He harshly criticized the determined death penalty against al-Nimr as an inhumane act by Al Saud and expressed regret over the silence of the media on the issue.

Pointing to the misrepresentation of freedom of expression by some world governments, he said, unfortunately people in today world tend to upside down the reality.

“Not long ago, the Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi who was sentenced to a decade in prison and 1000 lashes for “spreading liberal thoughts” and “insulting Islam,” was honored with the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize, which is a human-rights award,” he said, adding that the head of European Parliament Martin Schulz, then, called on Saudi King Salman to immediately release Badawi.

On the other hand, Ramezani added, a Shia cleric and religious leader, using the same ‘freedom of expression’ to act his religious duty and responsibility, is sentenced to death, guilty of seeking “foreign meddling” in the kingdom, “disobeying” its rulers and taking up arms against the security forces.

Ironically, the world media and those who claim protecting human rights are completely silent, and even avoid to reflect the position of Islamic authorities and scholars in defense of the Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ramezani underlined.

He said that Mohammad Baqir al-Nimr is one the great scholars of Islam who, unfortunately, is in jail in the worst situation.

“A cleric who is concerned with religion, the guidance of mankind and fight against oppression, is sentenced to death and this would have heavy price for the Saudis,” he stated.

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