"Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who was detained in 2012 after backing mass pro-democracy protests in the Qatif district of eastern Saudi Arabia, is a champion for greater rights for Saudi minorities, including the country's disenfranchised Shi'ite minority. He was shot in the leg four times upon arrest by police, causing several days of protests in the Saudi kingdom in which three unarmed protesters were killed by Saudi forces. A total of 20 people were killed during the Saudi crackdown on peaceful protesters between 2011 and August 2012."