Remember how back in November of last year, in the land of ten thousand princes, the Saudi government rounded up and locked up (in the Riyadh Ritz Carlton and other luxury hotels) hundreds of princes, senior officials, wealthy businessmen and other powerful figures – including military?
While most of them have now been released, the New York Times reports, “they are hardly free. Instead, this large sector of Saudi Arabia’s movers and shakers are living in fear and uncertainty.”
The Times:
To leave the Ritz, many of the detainees not only surrendered huge sums of money, but also signed over to the government control of precious real estate and shares of their companies — all outside any clear legal process.
And,
Businessmen once considered giants of the Saudi economy now wear ankle bracelets that track their movements. Princes who led military forces and appeared in glossy magazines are monitored by guards they do not command. Families who flew on private jets cannot gain access to their bank accounts. Even wives and children have been forbidden to travel.
What is even more disturbing, the Times also reports that, during their captivity (albeit in gilded cages) many were coerced and suffered physical abuse to the point that “at least 17 detainees were hospitalized for physical abuse and one later died in custody with a neck that appeared twisted, a badly swollen body and other signs of abuse…”
The Saudi government has denied such accusations.
But back to October-November 2017.
We may also remember that about a week before the palace coup, presidential adviser Jared Kushner (now stripped of his top-secret security clearance) made a mysterious, unannounced trip to the Kingdom and privately met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS).
“The two princes are said to have stayed up until nearly 4 a.m. several nights, swapping stories and planning strategy,” wrote David Ignatius at the time.
Today, The Intercept describes what such “story swapping” may have been about:
What exactly Kushner and the Saudi royal talked about in Riyadh may be known only to them, but after the meeting, Crown Prince Mohammed told confidants that Kushner had discussed the names of Saudis disloyal to the crown prince, according to three sources who have been in contact with members of the Saudi and Emirati royal families since the crackdown.
According to The Intercept, one of the President’s Daily Briefs a few months before, “contained information on Saudi Arabia’s evolving political situation, including a handful of names of royal family members opposed to the crown prince’s power grab…”
A few days after Kushner’s and the Crown Prince’s “4 a.m.” talks, all hell broke loose in Saudi Arabia. “The Saudi figures named in the President’s Daily Brief were among those rounded up,” says The Intercept.
Two days after the roundups and detentions began, Trump took to Twitter to defend the crackdown:
I have great confidence in King Salman and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, they know exactly what they are doing….
and
….Some of those they are harshly treating have been “milking” their country for years!
Kushner, through his attorney’s spokesperson, denies that he had discussed the names of Saudis disloyal to the crown prince.
The Saudi Embassy did not respond to questions from The Intercept and “the White House referred questions to National Security Council spokesperson Michael Anton. Anton declined to comment, referring questions on Kushner’s discussions with MBS to Lowell,” says The Intercept.
Read more about how senior U.S. government officials “have long worried about Kushner’s handling of sensitive foreign policy issues given his lack of diplomatic experience” and about their concerns “foreign officials might try to influence [Kushner] through business deals with his family’s real estate empire,” in The Intercept’s “Saudi Crown Prince Boasted that Jared Kushner Was ‘In His Pocket’”
Lead image courtesy Donkeyhotey.com
