Saudi Arabia’s execution of a prominent Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr indicates the kingdom is "using execution to settle political scores", rights group Amnesty International said Saturday.

Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr indicates the kingdom is "using execution to settle political scores", rights group Amnesty International said Saturday.

"What the Saudi Arabian authorities have said so far indicates they regard these executions as taken to preserve security. But the execution of Sheikh Nimr suggests they are using execution to settle political scores," Amnesty International's Middle East and north Africa director Philip Luther told AFP.

He added that the kingdom was using "the guise of counter-terrorism" to clamp down on dissent after the death sentences were carried out.

"Those trials including the trial of Shiekh Nimr al Nimr were politicized on the one hand and grossly unfair, because the international standards for fair trial were grossly flouted," Luther said.

Saudi Arabia announced on Saturday it executed top religious figure, Sheikh Nimr Baqer al-Nimr along with 46 other people.