Even the founding King’s grandson gets roughed up for speaking his mind. He dared criticize King Fahd. The outcome of this case should be interesting.
A Saudi prince who was kidnapped in Switzerland, smuggled back to the kingdom and placed under house arrest is threatening to take senior ministers to court. Speaking exclusively to Aljazeera on Wednesday, Prince Sultan bin Turki bin Abd al-Aziz described in detail how he was seized in Geneva and taken back to Saudi Arabia against his will last June. The king’s nephew is currently under house arrest in the Saudi capital, but still plans to take the State Minister Prince Abd al-Aziz bin Fahd and Islamic Affairs Minister Sheikh Salih Al al-Sheikh to court. The kidnapped prince said five masked men had stormed his office in Geneva while he was meeting another member of the royal family, beat, bound and gagged him before loading him on to a private jet.
| "Don Aziz wantsa talk to youse, mug!" |
In his official statement, Prince Sultan said he held "the Saudi government responsible for meting out justice" and he expected the two ministers to pay the consequences of their actions. A leading Saudi reformist, London-based Dr Saad al-Faqih, said Riyadh was faced with a real problem in dealing with the prince, his high profile making it extremely unlikely he would be imprisoned or murdered. "However, it is impossible to keep him silent either and very difficult for authorities to stop mobile phones and faxes from being smuggled in and out of the palace."
| So he'll prob'ly end up going for a drive in the desert, never to return... |
Al-Faqih claims Prince Sultan was seized in Geneva for his public criticism of royal family extravagance and dubious investments – particularly King Fahd’s financial relationship with Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri.
You can only imagine how Mahmoud-the-street-vendor would be treated for the same transgression. |