Khamenei’s website posts 'controversial' image comparing Saudi Arabia to Islamic State

Image has been posted after the Kingdom executed top Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s website has posted a controversial image likening the executions in Saudi Arabia with the practices of the Islamic State militant group.

The image posted on the website shows two executioners -- one an Islamic State fighter holding a knife over a hostage and the second a Saudi executioner flaunting a sword above a prisoner kneeling before him in a grey jumpsuit.  The question “any differences?” hangs above the images.



The image comes after the Iranian leader strongly condemned the Saudi Kingdom over the recent execution of top Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

PHOTO: english.khamenei.ir

“The unjustly spilt blood of this martyr will have quick consequences,” Khamenei told clerics in the capital, referring to Nimr al-Nimr who was executed along with 46 other men on Saturday.

Referring to the killing of Nimr as “a political mistake by the Saudi government” Khamenei said, “God will not forgive… it will haunt the politicians of this regime.”



“This scholar neither encouraged people into armed action nor secretly conspired for plots but the only thing he did was utter public criticism rising from his religious zeal.”

Angered by Sheikh Nimr’s execution, Protesters in Iran, broke into the Saudi Embassy early Sunday, setting fires and throwing papers from the roof.



Moreover, Iranian foreign ministry also strongly criticised the execution. “The Saudi government supports terrorist movements and extremists, but confronts domestic critics with oppression and execution,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Hossein Jaber Ansari said.

This article originally appeared on The Independent.