As concerns grow, why is this former Saudi crown prince so important?

The former Saudi crown prince and interior minister Mohammed bin Nayef was jailed by his powerful cousin, Mohammed bin Salman, in a purge of potential rivals to the throne.

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef meets with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington Wednesday, May 13, 2015. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
AP

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef meets with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington Wednesday, May 13, 2015. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Concerns are growing over the fate of former Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who has been imprisoned since March 2020.

The former minister of interior had previously been under house arrest since being deposed by his cousin, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), in a palace coup in June 2017.

Saudi authorities accuse the former top royal of siphoning billions from state coffers into his personal accounts and for allegedly planning a coup but those are believed to be pretexts for a campaign by MBS to silence potential rivals for the throne.

In his profile of the crown prince’s rise to power, the New York Times journalist Ben Hubbard, described how Mohammed bin Nayef was roughed up by MBS’s acolytes before agreeing to relinquish his position.

The prince was then shuffled into a room, where he was greeted by television cameras and MBS, who was filmed embracing the prince to give the impression of a peaceful transition of power.

A statement put out by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Sunday said Bin Nayef had been denied access to his lawyers and doctors and warned that he may be suffering from medical neglect.

“The lawyers said they do not know whether the prince has received treatment for his diabetes and that there are serious concerns about his well-being and health.” HRW said.

Bin Nayef was arrested alongside his uncle, Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, who is Saudi King Salman’s full brother. The pair were considered to be the top rivals to MBS despite there being no public evidence that they were planning to force the young prince from power.

Irrespective of whether he intended to oust his cousin or not, Bin Nayef has become the focal point of efforts by MBS to consolidate his power in recent years.

This is manifest not only in Bin Nayef’s arrest, but also the apparent attempts by Saudi authorities to kill or rendition his former senior aide, Saad al Jabri.

In court documents presented to a US court, al Jabri’s lawyers accused MBS of dispatching a hit squad to Canada in October 2018, within days of the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi officials in Istanbul.

The team, which came equipped with forensic equipment, caught the attention of Canadian border agents and the attempt was disrupted.

Nevertheless, MBS has been applying pressure on al Jabri to return by having his children and other relatives arrested.

Al Jabri, a former intelligence officer, is said to have compromising details about the crown prince.

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Powerful friends

The episode with al Jabri hints as to why MBS sees his cousin as such a major threat to his rule.

Al Jabri, a Bin Nayef loyalist, was the point man in the relationship between US and Saudi intelligence.

Both Al Jabri and his patron established a strong relationship with US and other western intelligence agencies and were credited with stopping several attacks by Al Qaeda terrorists on western interests.

Former CIA director, George Tenet, spoke glowingly of Bin Nayef’s credentials, even describing him as ‘courageous’.

“He is someone in whom we developed a great deal of trust and respect,” he said of the prince.

Bin Nayef’s reputation was further burnished after narrowly surviving an attack by the infamous Al Qaeda “butt bomber”, who detonated explosives hidden in his rectum during a meeting with the prince, in which he posed as a reformed terrorist.

His accomplishments during his tenure in the Ministry of the Interior, also earned Bin Nayef the support of the Saudi old guard.

Few of MBS’s rival princes therefore share Mohammed bin Nayef’s profile, his support among powerful Western states, or his standing with senior royalty.

Mohammed bin Nayef’s successes in defeating the Al Qaeda terror campaign that ravaged Saudi Arabia during the 2000s also stands in stark contrast to Mohammed bin Salman’s own record of plunging Riyadh into the quagmire of war in Yemen.

As MBS moves to ensure that he is the absolute and sole power centre in Saudi politics, there is little tolerance to allow anyone with Bin Nayef’s resume and contacts to remain free.

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