Of all the 47 men executed in Saudi Arabia since the beginning of the year, Ayatollah Nimr Baqir al-Nimr’s story is the most complex and must be seen within the historical and political context of sectarianism in Saudi Arabia and the entire region. Al-Nimr was executed after being charged as a terrorist, as were all the other 46 men who died that the same day. Forty-three of these men were members of al-Qaeda who had been kept in prison for a decade. The executioner’s sword also beheaded three young Shias, sentenced to death for lesser crimes and had been arrested some years ago when still minors. They are part of the same story as Nimr al-Nimr, the story of Saudi Shias, a religious minority amounting to between 10% and 15% of the country’s population.