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Iraq's al-Maliki 'reaffirms' Saudi Arabia will be destroyed

Arab World Materials 2 January 2016 21:18 (UTC +04:00)
Iraq's former prime minister and head of the Islamic Dawa Party, Nouri al-Maliki, condemned Saudi Arabia's execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, pledging that the act would bring down the Saudi rulers.
Iraq's al-Maliki 'reaffirms' Saudi Arabia will be destroyed

Iraq's former prime minister and head of the Islamic Dawa Party, Nouri al-Maliki, condemned Saudi Arabia's execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, pledging that the act would bring down the Saudi rulers, Sputnik reported.

In his condemnation, al-Maliki himself used sectarian language, referring to the execution of Shiite cleric Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr, founder of the Dawa Party. Al-Sadr was executed by Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated government in 1980, five months before the beginning of the notoriously destructive Iran-Iraq War.

"We strongly condemn these detestable sectarian practices and affirm that the crime of executing Sheikh al-Nimr will topple the Saudi regime as the crime of executing the martyr [Mohammed Baqir] al-Sadr did to Saddam [Hussein]," al-Maliki said in a message to the people of Iraq which he published on his Facebook page.

As Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, the toppling of its rulers as suggested by al-Maliki would also mean the destruction of the Kingdom in its present state.

Al-Maliki currently holds several positions in Iraq's divided government, including a Vice Presidency. Much of the military power is shared between the military and Shiite militias.

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