In a recently published interview, the mother of a 20 year old Shiite Muslim facing beheading and crucifixion, for taking part in an 'anti-marginalization' protests in Saudi Arabia pleaded with U.S president Barrack Obama to rescue her son.
The youngster identified as Ali al-Nimr, who was 17 when he was arrested in February 2012, attracted international condemnation over his young age and allegations that he was tortured into making a confession.
Ali al-Nimr's mother said “When I visited my son for the first time I didn’t recognise him,”
“I could clearly see a wound on his forehead. Another wound on his nose. They disfigured it. Even his body, he was too thin.
“For a month he was peeing blood,” she added. “He said he felt like a mass of pain, his body was no more.”
While calling on Obama's intervention, al-Nimr's mother further stated “If he carried out this act, I feel it would raise his esteem in the eyes of the world. He would be rescuing us from a great tragedy.”
Ali al-Nimr is a cousin to a Shiite religious leader Nimr al-Nimr, who is equally on death row after he was identified by Saudi authorities as a driving force behind demonstrations that began four years ago in the Eastern Province.