Riyadh – Saudi authorities have detained three princes including KingSalman’s brother and nephew for allegedly plotting a coup, three sourcestold AFP Saturday, signalling the de facto ruler’s tightening grip on power.
The detentions, which cast aside the last vestiges of potential oppositionto Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, come at a sensitive time as thepetro-state grapples with plunging oil prices and limits access to Islam’sholiest sites over fears of the new coronavirus.
Royal guards detained Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, a brother of KingSalman, and the monarch’s nephew Prince Mohammed bin Nayef on Friday afterthey were accused of plotting a palace coup aimed at unseating the crownprince — heir to the Saudi throne — an Arab official and a Westernofficial told AFP.
Prince Nayef’s younger brother, Prince Nawaf bin Nayef, was also detained,they added.
A number of military and interior ministry officials accused of supportingthe coup plot had also been rounded up, the Western official said, citingSaudi government sources.
“With this purge, no rivals remain to stop the crown prince’s succession tothe throne,” he said.- ADVERTISEMENT –
The detentions raised speculation about the health of the 84-year-old kingand whether the crown prince’s succession to the Arab world’s most powerfulthrone was imminent.
But another source close to the Saudi leadership told AFP the “king ishealthy and fine” and the detentions were meant to enforce “discipline”within the royal family.
The crown prince is “in control” and the purge was carried out “after anaccumulation of negative behaviour by the two princes”, this source addedwithout elaborating.
The Wall Street Journal, which was first to report the detentions, saidPrince Ahmed and Prince Nayef — once potential contenders for the throne– could face lifetime imprisonment or execution.
It was unclear where they were being held.
The detentions mark the latest crackdown by Prince Mohammed, the king’s sonwho has consolidated his grip on power with the imprisonment of prominentclerics and activists as well as princes and businessmen.
Already viewed as the defacto ruler controlling all the major levers ofgovernment, from defence to the economy, the prince is widely seen to bestamping out traces of internal dissent before a formal transfer of powerfrom his father King Salman.
Prince Mohammed has faced a torrent of international condemnation over themurder of critic Jamal Khashoggi inside the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate inOctober 2018.
“Prince Mohammed is emboldened — he has already ousted any threats to hisrise and jailed or murdered critics of his regime without anyrepercussion,” said Becca Wasser, a policy analyst at the US-based RANDCorporation.
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“This is a further step to shore up his power and a message to anyone –including royals — not to cross him.”
– ‘Disgruntled princes’ –
The detentions come as Saudi Arabia grapples with a coronavirus-led slumpin oil prices just as the kingdom was seeking to raise funds to financePrince Mohammed’s ambitious Vision 2030 reform programme.
The kingdom has suspended the “umrah” year-round pilgrimage over fears ofthe disease spreading to Mecca and Medina, raising uncertainty over theupcoming hajj. The pilgrimages are a key source of revenue.
“The arrest of several senior disgruntled princes… reflects a growingdiscontent with the ‘Son King’ over his despicable hegemony and erraticsocial, economic, foreign and religious policies,” said Madawi al-Rasheed,a London-based Saudi academic.
Prince Mohammed had edged out Prince Nayef, the former crown prince andinterior minister, in 2017 to become heir to the throne.
At the time, Saudi television channels showed Prince Mohammed kissing thehand of the older prince and kneeling before him in a show of reverence.
Western media reports later said that Prince Nayef had been placed underhouse arrest, a claim denied by Saudi authorities.
Prince Ahmed, said to be in his 70s, was reportedly keeping a low profileafter he returned to the kingdom from his base in London.
Just before his return in October 2018, the prince had courted controversyover remarks he made to protesters in London chanting against Saudi royalsover the kingdom’s military involvement in the ongoing conflict in Yemen.
“What does the family have to do with it? Certain individuals areresponsible… the king and the crown prince,” he said, according to anonline video of the incident.
The comment was seen by many as rare criticism of the kingdom’s leaders,but Prince Ahmed had dismissed that interpretation as “inaccurate”.-APP/AFP
