Three Senior Members of Saudi Royal Family Are Arrested

[dBSPL]

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has detained one of the most senior members of the royal family, a former crown prince and a royal cousin. No reason has been given.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, left, with Mohammed bin Nayef, the former crown prince.Credit...Fayez Nureldine/Agence France-Presse —



By David D. Kirkpatrick and Ben Hubbard

• March 6, 2020, 5:00 p.m. ET

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia has detained one of the most senior members of the royal family, a former crown prince and a royal cousin for unexplained reasons, a relative and a person close to the royal family said Friday.

The senior royal, Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, is a younger brother of King Salman and an uncle of the crown prince. He was for a time the great hope of family members and other critics who hoped he might try to block Prince Mohammed’s ascension to the throne, but he had shown no signs of seeking to do that.

The former crown prince who was arrested, Mohammed bin Nayef, is also the former interior minister and a longtime favorite of Washington.

He had already effectively been under house arrest since he was removed from those roles by the current crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in 2017. It was unclear why he was detained.

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His younger brother, Prince Nawaf bin Nayef, was also detained.

An official of the Saudi embassy in Washington declined to comment.

The detentions come at a touchy moment for the kingdom and the royal family.

The apparently unilateral decision of Crown Prince Mohammed to halt visits to Mecca in response to the coronavirus — a move with few if any precedents in Islamic history — has stirred grumbling. His plans to modernize the Saudi economy have shown little progress so far. And concerns about the impact of the coronavirus have slashed the price of oil, the source of the kingdom’s revenue.



David D. Kirkpatrick is an international correspondent based in the London bureau. He was previously the Cairo bureau chief, a Washington correspondent and a national correspondent based in New York. @ddknyt
Ben Hubbard is the Beirut bureau chief. He has spent more than a decade in the Arab world, including Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Yemen. @NYTBen

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/06/world/middleeast/saudi-royal-arrest.html

 

[Juggernaut_Flat_Plane_V8]

This man will change Saudi Arabia for the better...mark my words

 

[aziqbal]

He later executed his cousin and uncle

and said it was a misunderstanding

 

[Gorgin Khan]

He later executed his cousin and uncle

and said it was a misunderstanding

Can you kindly elaborate are you referring to Mohammed Bin nayef And Ahmad bin Abduladziz ? . Are they executed ? Thanks

 

[Yankee-stani]

This man will change Saudi Arabia for the better...mark my words

Doubt it I think this just a PR bluff from the monarchy as its lost a good deal of credibility in the Muslim World dont be suprised he might be coup soon in the near future

 

[Juggernaut_Flat_Plane_V8]

Doubt it I think this just a PR bluff from the monarchy as its lost a good deal of credibility in the Muslim World dont be suprised he might be coup soon in the near future

As long as US is backing Saudi Arabia, MBS will have a free reign

 

[BATMAN]

Doubt it I think this just a PR bluff from the monarchy as its lost a good deal of credibility in the Muslim World dont be suprised he might be coup soon in the near future

Do you have any further details on your stated forth coming coup... what's cooking, who are the people behind the plan and work horses etc.?

 

[Yankee-stani]

As long as US is backing Saudi Arabia, MBS will have a free reign

Perhaps again MBS interesting fella he is talking reaaprochment with Tehran sometimes,trying to get to develop cordial ties with Beijing and Moscow I don't think Washington feels comfortable let's see if he able to jump through those hoops

 

[BATMAN]

As long as US is backing Saudi Arabia, MBS will have a free reign

What do you mean by backing? and what will happen when USA stop backing Saudi again?

He later executed his cousin and uncle

and said it was a misunderstanding

Can you back up your claim with some thing solid or just another one of your dream?

 

[Clutch]

This man will change Saudi Arabia for the better...mark my words

 

[BATMAN]

That's one hell of an evidence... congrats.

 

[Ahmet Pasha]

I think when this present king dies there'll be turmoil.

 

[Clutch]

That's one hell of an evidence... congrats.

 

[Ahmet Pasha]

Control uday....control

 

[Hakikat ve Hikmet]

This time it'll be coronavirus I think...