Terrorism
Terrorism is, in the broadest sense, the use of intentionally indiscriminate violence as a means to create terror among masses of people; or fear to achieve a religious or political aim. It is used in this regard primarily to refer to violence during peacetime or in war against non-combatants. The terms "terrorist" and "terrorism" originated during the French Revolution of the late 18th century but gained mainstream popularity during the U.S. presidency of Ronald Reagan (1981–89) after the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings and again after the 2001 September 11 attacks and the 2002 Bali bombings.
Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia
Although there is no exact definition of the term "terrorism", the most common meaning is "to use intentionally indiscriminate violence as a means to create terror or fear, in order to achieve a political, religious or ideological aim ... against civilians or non-combatants". Also most terrorist attacks are characterised by long-term planning so clearly there is subtle difference between common crime (even with lethal consequences) and act of terrorism. Based on previous experience with human rights violation in Saudi Arabia there are strong reasons to take the statements of Saudi officials that Nimr al-Nimr is convicted terrorist with suspicion. This is supported by fact that in the list of offenses done by Nimr al-Nimr most of them are purely "thought crimes" like "disobeying the ruler", "inciting sectarian strife" and "encouraging, leading and participating in demonstrations".