Saudi Arabia has ordered detention of 3 Royal family members fearing coup
The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia – Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud has detained 3 senior members of the Royal Family on Friday, i.e., March 6, 2020.
The first person to be detained was Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who is the younger brother of King of Saudi Arabia – Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and uncle of Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. The second person detained is Muhammad Bin Nayef Al Saud, the nephew of the King of Saudi Arabia. Muhammad Bin Nayef Al Saud has also served as the Former Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
The third person to be detained is Prince Nawaf Bin Nayef, who is the younger brother of Muhammad Bin Nayef Al Saud.
The detentions are presumed to be related to an alleged coup attempt. The Crown Prince and son of the King of Saudi Arabia has been consolidating his power since he overthrew his cousin Mohammad Bin Nayef from the position of Crown Prince in 2017. In the same year, the new Crown Prince arrested hundreds of members of the royal family in an anti-corruption campaign at Hotel Ritz Carlton.
The members of the royal family don’t want Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud to be the King of Saudi Arabia. They have questioned his leadership abilities after the killing of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Jamal Khashoggi was a Saudi Arabian rebel, author, columnist for ‘The Washington Post’ and a General Manager and Editor-In-Chief of Al-Arab News Channel. He was assassinated at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 by agents of the Saudi Government after they had allegedly used Israeli spyware to hack his cell phone. Media reports say his body was dismembered. To this day, his remains have not been found. His murder drew worldwide anger.
The family members also doubted Crown Prince’s abilities after 2 oil facilities were attacked in 2019. The facilities targeted were based at Abqaiq and Khurais. The attacks disrupted the Saudi Arabia’s crude oil supply by 5.7 million barrels per day, which is 50% of its output. Yemen’s Houthi rebel group has claimed the responsibility of the attack. The Houthis have been fighting a Saudi-UAE-led coalition in an ongoing civil war in Yemen since 2015. But U.S. believes it is Iran who carried out the attacks.
It is believed that that Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is the only person who can change the line of succession and stop Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud from becoming the King, after the Current Kin fog Saudi Arabia decides to retire. However, as of now, there are no plans of King’s retirement.
Besides, the family members are also not likely to oppose the detentions because they know that the King of Saudi Arabia will not go against his favourite son. The King has delegated most responsibilities of rule to his son, but he still presides over weekly cabinet meetings and receives foreign dignitaries.
For the records, the detention of Mohammed Bin Nayef Al Saud is also critical for Crown Prince because the former had developed close ties with United States (U.S.) Intelligence Agencies during his tenure as Interior Minister.
Separately, the Crown Prince, who is known for detaining rebels, had also detained 8 influential bloggers and journalists in 2019 as a crackdown on free expression in the kingdom. These were taken from their homes in the capital city of Riyadh and the Red Sea Port City of Jeddah last week by police which was dressed as civilians.
