Son of Sheikh Al-Nimr: Daesh, Al-Saud of Same Tree

Local Editor

The son of executed Ayatollah Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr has drawn a parallel between the crimes committed by the al-Saud regime and the Daesh terror group and said both are branches of the "same tree."

Daesh and the Al Saud regime "do the same thing" and follow the "same ideology," said Mohammed al-Nimr in a recent interview with the CNN.

"Daesh is the same exact picture. It's the same tree," he said.

"In Saudi Arabia, the tree is trimmed because they have money. So they have a better image. But if you compare them, they do the same thing. They have the same ideology."

Daesh ideology is rooted in Wahhabism which is widely promoted by Saudi clerics and tolerated by the kingdom's rulers.

Nimr also slammed Riyadh's rulers for taking advantage of religion "to gain influence in the region." "It's not about Shia or Sunni. It's about tyranny."

"We are so proud of him, and we are not going to be intimidated or stop asking for freedom. My father stood peacefully for the lives of all people," he said.

He said he was shocked by the news of his father's execution, but both the family and the slain sheikh had expected this.

"He knew they would kill him," his son said. "He was steadfast that he would not change his statements; he would not acquiesce to them even at the threat of death. He was not afraid."

In his interview, Mohammed al-Nimr recalled a time when he and his family were prevented from praying while on their way to the western holy city of Mecca.

"If we traveled outside Eastern Province, we were scared," he said. "We were treated like criminals. We were infidels to them."

It has been weeks since his father's execution but the family is still waiting to bury him.

"We don't know what happened to my father because they never returned the body," his son said.

Mohammed al-Nimr rarely spoke publicly before but now says he has broken his silence to spread his father's message.

He wants Muslims to hear his father's words: You cannot win the world with violence.

"My father used to tell people that the roar of the word is mightier than the sound of bullets."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team