Category Archives: Mohammed bin Salman

Mohammed bin Salman named prime minister ahead of Khashoggi lawsuit

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New role likely to grant prince sovereign immunity in case concerning journalist murdered in Saudi Arabian embassy

Mohammed bin Salman has been named prime minister of Saudi Arabia in a move that experts said would probably shield the crown prince from a potentially damaging lawsuit in the US in connection to his alleged role in the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday that King Salman was making an exception to Saudi law and naming his son as prime minister, formally ceding the dual title of king and prime minister he had personally held until now.

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Saudi foreign minister defends role in securing Ukraine prisoner swaps

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Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud decries as ‘cynical’ accusations his country was trying to improve its image after Khashoggi killing

It would be cynical to see Saudi Arabia’s efforts to secure the release of international prisoners held by Russian proxies in Ukraine as an attempt to improve the country’s image after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, its foreign minister has said.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan al Saud said on Friday that Riyadh had first approached the UK government in April, shortly after Aiden Aslin, a British citizen, and others were captured at Mariupol, and had acted for compassionate reasons, hoping to negotiate their release.

This story was amended on Friday 23 September 2022 to correct the name of the Saudi foreign minister.

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Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman no longer expected at Queen’s funeral

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Apparent change of heart by de facto ruler suggests relations with west have not fully recovered from murder of Jamal Khashoggi

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is no longer expected to attend Queen Elizabeth’s funeral on Monday, a British Foreign Office source said on Sunday, contrary to Britain’s earlier expectations that he would.

Saudi Arabia would be represented instead by Prince Turki bin Mohammed al Saud, the source said. Prince Turki is a minister of state and has been a member of the cabinet since 2018. He is the grandson of late King Fahd and part of the new generation that has been brought to power by Prince Mohammed.

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‘Stain on Queen’s memory’: Saudi crown prince’s planned visit condemned

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Hatice Cengiz, fiancee of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and other campaigners condemn plan

Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to touch down in London on Sunday to pay his respects to the Queen has been condemned by Hatice Cengiz and other human rights defenders as a “stain” on the monarch’s memory and an attempt by the Saudi crown prince to use mourning to “seek legitimacy and normalisation”.

Cengiz, who was engaged to Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist who was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents in the Istanbul consulate in 2018, said she wished that Prince Mohammed would be arrested for murder when he lands in London, but said she feared that UK authorities would turn a blind eye to serious and credible allegations against the future king.

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Mohammed bin Salman ‘will travel to London to deliver condolences’

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Crown prince will reportedly head Saudi delegation but attendance at Queen’s funeral unconfirmed

Mohammed bin Salman will deliver his country’s condolences to the royal family after the death of the Queen, a source has told the Guardian, but there has been no confirmation about whether he will attend the funeral service at Westminster Abbey.

It will be the Saudi crown prince’s first visit to the UK since the murder of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018 and the subsequent British imposition of sanctions. These included travel bans on a group of courtiers close to the crown prince due to their alleged involvement in the killing inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

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Saudi snitching app appears to have been used against jailed Leeds student

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‘Terrifying tool’ under scrutiny as Salma al-Shehab’s tweets suggest widely available phone app was used to report her

The Saudi woman who was sentenced to 34 years in prison for a tweet appears to have been denounced to Saudi authorities through a crime-reporting app that users in the kingdom can download to Apple and Android phones.

A review of Leeds PhD student Salma al-Shehab’s tweets and interactions shows she was messaged by a person using a Saudi account on 15 November, 2020 after she posted a mildly critical tweet in response to a Saudi government post about a new public transportation contract.

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Saudi woman given 34-year prison sentence for using Twitter

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Salma al-Shehab, a Leeds University student, was charged with following and retweeting dissidents and activists

A Saudi student at Leeds University who had returned home to the kingdom for a holiday has been sentenced to 34 years in prison for having a Twitter account and for following and retweeting dissidents and activists.

The sentencing by Saudi’s special terrorist court was handed down weeks after the US president Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia, which human rights activists had warned could embolden the kingdom to escalate its crackdown on dissidents and other pro-democracy activists.

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Chinese president Xi Jinping expected to visit Saudi Arabia next week

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The planned gala reception is in stark contrast to the low-key audience afforded Joe Biden in June, as ties between China and the kingdom grow closer

The Chinese president Xi Jinping is expected to visit Saudi Arabia next week, where plans are under way for a gala reception to match that given to Donald Trump on his first trip abroad as president.

The welcome being prepared for the Chinese leader is in stark contrast with that afforded to Joe Biden in June, when the US president received a low-key reception, reflecting strained ties between the two countries and personal distaste between Biden and the de facto Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman.

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Rights groups hit out at Macron decision to host Mohammed bin Salman

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Saudi crown prince accused of complicity in murder of Jamal Khashoggi is welcomed in Paris

Human rights campaigners have hit out at Emmanuel Macron’s decision to host Mohammed bin Salman for talks in Paris during the Saudi crown prince’s first visit to Europe since the murder nearly four years ago of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

On Thursday evening, Macron welcomed Prince Mohammed to talks at the Elysée Palace with a long handshake before the pair were due to dine together.

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Greece rolls out red carpet for crown prince, as Khashoggi killing falls off agenda

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With Europe grappling with an energy crisis, Mohammed bin Salman finds he is once again welcome

Smiles, handshakes, backslaps and the Acropolis all to himself. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has landed in Europe – his first trip west since the brutal killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi – and on a continent jittering with energy worries, the Saudi royal has received red-carpet treatment.

Human rights concerns aside, the de facto leader of the world’s greatest oil producer has luxuriated in a welcome that only recently may have seemed impossible.

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Saudi Arabia plans 100-mile-long mirrored skyscraper megacity

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The Line – due to be just 200 metres wide – will make Neom world’s most liveable city ‘by far’, officials claim

The promotional material is striking: two mirror-encased skyscrapers stretching more than 100 miles across a swathe of desert and mountain terrain, providing a future home for 9 million people. Is it the ultimate in high-density living, or a grandiose science fiction fantasy?

In short, economists, architects and analysts are not quite sure. So extravagant is Saudi Arabia’s plan to create an urban utopia that even those working on the project, known as the Line, do not yet know if its scale and scope can ever be realised.

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White House seeks to delay decision on Prince Mohammed immunity over Khashoggi murder

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Request comes after Biden returns from Saudi trip in which he claims to have raised journalist’s murder with crown prince

The Biden administration asked a US judge for a 60-day extension before it formally weighed in on whether Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, ought to be granted sovereign immunity in a case involving the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

The Department of Justice said in a filing before a US district court that it had initiated a “decision-making process” about whether it would file a statement of interest in the case but that it would not be able to comply with the court’s requested deadline of 1 August.

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Joe Biden lands in Saudi Arabia seeking to halt shift towards Russia and China

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Analysis: US president aiming to convince Jeddah to increase oil supply in order to calm global energy markets

Joe Biden landed in the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah to a tepid welcome from the Saudi crown prince whose country he once pledged to make a “pariah” on the world stage.

While Saudi Arabia announced it would open its airspace to flights from Israel, making Biden the first US president to fly directly from Tel Aviv to the kingdom, expectations of further gains during his visit remained low. The US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told journalists onboard Air Force One not to expect any bilateral announcements in response to American demands that Saudi Arabia pump more oil to calm global energy markets after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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‘MBS crushed civil society’: Saudi exiles speak out as Biden meets crown prince

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Trio of dissidents in US condemn president’s trip to Saudi Arabia and accuse him of ‘normalising’ murderous regime

Khalid Aljabri, Lina al-Hathloul, and Abdullah Alaoudh grew up within a few blocks of each other in their Al-Falah neighborhood in Riyadh, but never knew each other.

On Friday, as Joseph Biden touched down in Jeddah, in their native Saudi Arabia, the three exiles met for the first time for a Middle Eastern breakfast in Arlington, Virginia, in the outskirts of Washington.

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Biden defends Saudi Arabia trip that aims to reset ties

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President says he aims to reorient relations and meet with the crown prince, who he previously denounced as a pariah

Joe Biden on Saturday defended his decision to travel to Saudi Arabia saying human rights would be on his agenda as he gave a preview of a trip on which he aims to reset ties with the crown prince, who he previously denounced as a pariah.

The American president will hold bilateral talks with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and his leadership team, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on his visit to the Middle East next week.

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Judge puts Biden on the spot over immunity for Saudi crown prince

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Court invitation to clarify prince’s status comes as president faces criticism for ditching promise to turn Saudi Arabia into a ‘pariah’

A US judge has asked the Biden administration to weigh in on whether Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, should be granted sovereign immunity in a civil case brought against him in the US by Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist who was killed by Saudi agents in 2018.

John Bates, a district court judge, gave the US government until 1 August to declare its interests in the civil case or give the court notice that it has no view on the matter.

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‘Frankly quite stupid’: rights groups condemn Biden’s Saudi Arabia visit

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Critics question value of US president’s visit, raising fears it will endanger dissidents and legitimise regime’s human rights stance

Rights advocates fear Joe Biden’s decision to visit Saudi Arabia will endanger dissidents abroad and be seen by the authorities there as giving the green light to restrict civil liberties domestically.

Abdullah Alaoudh, of the thinktank Democracy for the Arab World Now and son of jailed cleric Salman al-Odah, said: “Right before inauguration, he [Biden] said he will be sure to protect Saudi dissidents – those were his words. We’re not protected by someone shaking hands with the same person who is threatening us every day and taking our families hostage due to our activism here in the US.”

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Biden Saudi visit is ‘presidential pardon for murder’, says ex-spy chief’s son

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President ‘made it clear that there won’t be any direct consequences’ for Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, says Khalid Aljabri

Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia and meeting with its de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is “the equivalent of a presidential pardon for murder”, according to Khalid Aljabri, the son of the exiled former senior Saudi intelligence officer Saad Aljabri.

The US president once vowed to make Saudi Arabia “a pariah” after the death of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist whose 2018 murder was ordered, according to US intelligence. But this week the White House announced that Biden will meet the crown prince in Jeddah at the end of a four-day trip in July – a development described by Saudi human rights activists as a “betrayal”.

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Khashoggi row goes unmentioned as Erdoğan seeks to boost Saudi trade ties

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Analysis: regional rivals reconcile in Jeddah while reason for three-year rift remains elephant in the room

With awkward embraces and fixed grins, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Mohammed bin Salman struck a pose of reconciliation. For the past three years, the presence of the Turkish leader and the Saudi crown prince in the same room would have been unthinkable, but in a drawing room of a Jeddah palace on Friday, both tried to signal a new beginning.

There was no sign of the acrimony that had set the regional rivals apart and – most definitely – no mention of the reason for the rift: the Saudi murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

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Saudis’ Biden snub suggests crown prince still banking on Trump’s return

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Refusal to help US punish Russia and $2bn investment in Kushner fund signal crown prince’s displeasure with Trump’s successor

Saudi Arabia appears to be banking on Donald Trump’s return to office by refusing to help the US punish Russia for the Ukraine invasion, and by placing $2bn in a new, untested investment fund run by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

In seeking to persuade Riyadh to increase oil production so as to lower prices by as much as 30%, and thereby curb Russian government revenue, the Biden administration is looking for ways to reassure the Saudi government that it is dedicated to the kingdom’s security.

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