DUBAI – Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman has implemented a string ofreforms in his country, but with his ascension to crown prince in June 2017has come an intensified crackdown on dissent.
Just a few months after the 33-year-old was appointed heir to the Gulfregion’s most powerful throne, rights groups reported the first wave ofarrests.
In September 2017, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International reportedthe arrest of dozens of writers, journalists, activists and religiousleaders, including prominent Islamist cleric Sheikh Salman al-Awda.
It was around this time that columnist Jamal Khashoggi left the kingdom forself-imposed exile in the US.
Khashoggi, who has been missing since he entered the Saudi consulate inIstanbul on October 2, had been banned from writing in the pan-ArabAl-Hayat newspaper following his defence of the Muslim Brotherhood, whichRiyadh has blacklisted as a terror organisation.
The September 2017 arrests took place shortly before the kingdom announcedit was lifting a decades-long ban on women drivers, seen as a sign that theultra-conservative nation may be heading towards a more “modern” society.
The announcement was part of Prince Mohammed’s Vision 2030 plan foreconomic and social reforms as Riyadh prepares for a post-oil era.
In a rare public appearance in October, the crown prince — known as MBS –said he would strive for “a country of moderate Islam that is tolerant ofall religions and to the world”.
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While many in the international community lauded the young prince’s effortsto modernise the country, another wave of arrests was set to take place.
In November, dozens of princes, businessmen and senior officials weredetained in what the authorities said was an anti-corruption crackdown.
Suspects, including billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, were held atRiyadh’s luxury Ritz-Carlton hotel for three months and freed only afterreaching substantial financial settlements with the authorities.
At the same time, Prince Mohammed was accused by Lebanese officials ofplacing Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri under house arrest in theSaudi capital after he had made a shocking resignation announcement fromthere.
The string of arrests and the Hariri case have reflected poorly on theimage of Prince Mohammed as a “reformer”. -APP/AFP
