Shi‘ites have every reason to be outraged at Saudi Arabia’s execution of well-known cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. The Islamic Republic has reacted with opprobrium. The outrage of Iranian officials at religious persecution, however, is more than a little hypocritical. After all, Iran is a regime which targets Baha’is, Christians, and Jews simply on the basis of their faith.
Iranian protesters hold pictures of prominent Shi’ite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr during a demonstration against the execution of al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia, at Imam Hussein square in Tehran January 4, 2016. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi.
Nor does the Islamic Republic have much standing to act as the protector of Shi‘ite religious figures, as the Iranian regime has a lengthy record of imprisoning senior ayatollahs, if not also killing them. Over at Commentary, I detail a number of cases of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his successor and current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei targeting, imprisoning, and perhaps even murdering Shi‘ite clergy for cynical political and diplomatic reasons.
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