Human Rights Watch disclosed on Saturday, May 9, quoting a source linked to the royal family, that the security forces detained Prince Faisal bin Abdullah, son of the late King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, on March 27 when he was in a subjective quarantine due to the Corona pandemic. In a family compound northeast of the capital Riyadh, the organization confirmed that the Saudi authorities refused to reveal his whereabouts or status, and also refused to reveal the reasons for his arrest, and a family source told Human Rights Watch, indicating that the authorities may have “forcibly disappeared” him.
Prince Faisal’s location and status are unknown. “The source said that Prince Faisal has not publicly criticized the authorities since his arrest in December 2017, human right said. Further added the family members have not been able to know anything about the location of Prince Faisal or its status since the end of last March, and they expressed concern about his health because he has heart disease.
The organization published the Prince’s arrest report under the title Reforms Associated with Arrests, Torture and Murder, noting that his arrest came as the latest known arbitrary detention of prominent Saudis, including members of the royal family, without any recognized legal procedure.
Despite the waves of criticism, the unlawful behavior of the Saudi authorities continues during the rule of Muhammad bin Salman, and now we have to add Prince Faisal to hundreds of detainees in Saudi Arabia without a clear legal basis, ”said Michael Page, deputy director of the Middle East division at Human Rights Watch.
On the details of his arrest, the organization quoted a source close to the royal family as saying: “The authorities have imposed an arbitrary ban on the travel of the prince since the end of 2017”
It is reported that Saudi authorities have targeted other members of the royal family in recent months. On April 15, 2020, a documented Twitter account of Princess Basma Bint Saud, 56, the daughter of the late King Saud, published a series of tweets stating that the princess and her daughter were being held without charge in Al-Ha’ir Prison south of Riyadh, and that her health was deteriorating The tweets then disappeared several hours later, on May 5, AFP reported that since the tweets were deleted, family members have not received any information about their status.
It is unclear whether the arrest of Prince Faisal, to whom the reports refer, is related to previous arrests of Prince Nayef bin Ahmed bin Abdulaziz and Prince Nawwaf bin Nayef. The Saudi authorities have arrested a number of dissidents, including prominent advocates, thinkers and human rights activists, Sheikha Farida, the writer and political analyst, said in her tweet account.
Ibn Salman continues to treacherously with his relatives and cousins, this time with Prince Faisal, son of former King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, where Human Rights Watch revealed the arrest of Faisal bin Abdullah on March 27 of his optional health quarry, and nothing is known until now about where His detention or health status, Fahd Al-Aqili, a researcher and political activist interested in Gulf affairs, said on Twitter.
The New York Times revealed that “the Saudi authorities arrested Prince Faisal on the pretext that he was infected with the Corona virus, and the American newspaper indicated that” Prince Faisal had assumed the presidency of the Saudi Red Crescent, and quoted 3 sources close to the family – whose names were not mentioned – that the arrest The prince happened on March 27, 2020. “The newspaper quoted the sources as saying that security officers came to his house near Riyadh and told him that he was infected with the Coronavirus, and the prince purported to be infected,” and even confirmed that he was living in isolation anyway. “
The arrest of the princes in the Kingdom may be a proactive step to manage the risks that prevent “bin Salman” from assuming the throne as a successor to his father, Observers said.
Moataz Matar said in his program on Al-Sharq channel, Prince Muhammad bin Salman is arresting anyone who has relations with the United States of America, politicians, or even members of Congress.