Saudi Arabia executed 47 people on Saturday who had been convicted of various terror acts spread out over the course of a decade, the interior ministry said.
The executions were carried out in 12 different locations. Some were beheaded, some were shot, an official said. The ministry did not mention the other methods of execution.
The executed men believed in extremist ideology and were members of terror groups, the ministry said in a statement. And they were convicted of plotting and carrying out attacks against civilians going back as far at an attack on the U.S. consulate in Jeddah in 2004.
One of the men executed was Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr who was notorious for heavily criticizing the Saudi royal family. He had been charged with inciting sectarian strife and sedition.
Shiite Muslims make up a small minority in Saudi Arabia.