Saudi Arabia, which used to be a land of no internal news, has consistently been under international media spotlight, all for domestic and bad reasons, since King Salman took over in 2018 and raised his favorite, maverick son Muhammad bin Salman, commonly called as MBS, to the position of crown prince. Recently, the oil-rich kingdom detained two royal family members for crafting a plot against MBS. The arrested people are the immediate family members of the king – king’s full younger brother, 78-year-old Prince Ahmed bin Abdelaziz, and king’s nephew and former counter-terrorism czar Prince Mohammed bin Nayef.
Though the palace has tried to downplay the story, saying that the two people close to the royal family were arrested for “accumulation of behaviour that was provocative to the leadership”, the intensity of the action shows that the ruling circle was threatened by the actions of the arrested people. More arrests are likely to follow, a glaring message to other royal family members to be careful as they are under constant watch. With the arrest of Prince Ahmed, there is no one in the princely lineup who could challenge MBS. He is among a few royal family members who refused to pledge allegiance to MBS.
In the first post-coup development, the palace has released the king’s photo to show his well-being. The Saudi state media showed the king standing and greeting two Saudi diplomats being sworn in as ambassadors. We are banking on speculation because Saudi Arabia is the land of mysteries and there is hardly any official word on such domestic issues. But it is becoming increasingly difficult for the palace to hush up matters. This could well be the second alleged royal coup since King Salman assumed power and MBS was made crown prince. The palace has been under sever international criticism for crackdown on its indigenous tribes for their sectarian beliefs. The murder of Jamal Khashoggi will keep haunting MBS as well. This is the time for Saudi Arabia to put its house in order. The world may not ignore its human rights violations for too long. *
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