Only essential services will be allowed to operate in area home to 500,000 people
Saudi Arabia has cordoned off an oil-rich Shia region, suspended air and sea travel to nine countries and closed schools and universities, in a series of measures to contain the fast-spreading coronavirus.
Related: Saudi Arabia releases images of King Salman after purge of royals
Continue reading...Monarch seen carrying out duties as speculation mounts over crown prince’s succession
Saudi monarch King Salman was pictured carrying out official duties on Sunday, two days after his brother and the former heir to his throne were arrested in a sweep that sparked a new wave of palace intrigue and speculation about his health.
Photographs released by the Saudi royal court showed the 84-year-old king receiving several ambassadors and reading through correspondence. The images doused claims that the detention on Friday of Prince Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz and Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who was ousted as Crown Prince two years ago, heralded an imminent change of ruler.
The move came as two other princes who had also been arrested were freed late on Sunday. A source confirmed that both Prince Abdul Aziz bin Saud bin Nayef and Prince Saud bin Nayef had been questioned by royal court aides since being seized from their homes on Friday.
Continue reading...King’s brother and Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s predecessor are accused of coup plot
A purge of princes and aides continued across Saudi Arabia on Saturday after the kingdom’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, claimed to have foiled a coup being plotted by two of the country’s most senior royals – widely seen as among the few left standing in the way of his ascension.
Prince Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz, the only full brother of the monarch, King Salman, and Mohammed bin Nayef, who was heir to the throne until being ousted by Prince Mohammed, face treason charges after being accused of organising against the ambitious heir.
Continue reading...Royal relatives accused of plotting to oust King Salman and successor Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Saudi authorities have detained three royal family members including two senior princes, according to US media reports, signalling the crown prince is further tightening his grip on power.
Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, a brother of King Salman, and the monarch’s nephew Prince Mohammed bin Nayef were taken from their homes early on Friday by royal guards after being accused of treason, the Wall Street Journal reported citing unnamed sources. The pair were allegedly plotting to oust King Salman and the son he has designated to succeed him, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, it reported.
Continue reading...Activists handed long prison sentences or death penalty by court set up for terror cases
Saudi Arabia is using a secretive special court set up for terrorism-related cases to systematically prosecute human rights activists and other dissenting voices who defy the country’s absolute monarchy, a new report has found.
The human rights watchdog Amnesty International spent five years investigating 95 cases heard at the Specialised Criminal court (SCC) in Riyadh, concluding in a report published on Thursday that the court is routinely used as a weapon to silence criticism despite the kingdom’s recent attempts to cultivate a reformist image.
Continue reading...State department investigates after New York Times journalist Ben Hubbard says his phone was targeted in 2018
A New York Times reporter was allegedly targeted with spyware linked to Saudi Arabia in 2018, at a time when the kingdom was targeting several Saudi dissidents around the world.
A new report by Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School found that Ben Hubbard, who has written a book about Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, was targeted by spyware known as “Pegasus”, which is made by Israel’s NSO Group.
Continue reading...Exclusive: US agencies believed kingdom intended to monitor Hatice Cengiz after journalist killed
US intelligence authorities urged British counterparts to keep a close eye on Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, after they became aware of a plan by Saudi Arabia to keep her under surveillance in the UK last year, according to western intelligence sources.
The US believed the kingdom had the “ambition and intention” to monitor Cengiz in London last May, seven months after Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he had gone to obtain papers so the couple could marry.
Continue reading...Information suggests alleged targeting of Amazon chief was part of a wider campaign to pick off individuals close to Khashoggi
The message, it seems, could not have been clearer.
On 8 November 2018, just one month after the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, received an unsolicited text from Mohammed bin Salman’s WhatsApp account.
Continue reading...It is not known how many people Prince Mohammed shared WhatsApp messages with in 2018 other than Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos was far from the only American VIP who met Saudi Arabia’s crown prince in the spring of 2018. During a coast-to-coast tour Mohammed bin Salman had personal encounters with dozens of celebrities, politicians and tech titans including George Bush, Richard Branson and Bill Gates.
Continue reading...‘Grave concern’ expressed at evidence of possible ‘effort to silence Washington Post’
UN experts are demanding an immediate investigation by the US into evidence indicating that Jeff Bezos, the billionaire owner of the Washington Post, was hacked with spyware deployed in a WhatsApp message sent from the personal account of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
The special rapporteurs – Agnès Callamard and David Kaye – said in a joint statement they were “gravely concerned” by evidence they had reviewed about the apparent surveillance of Bezos in what they described as a possible “effort to influence, if not silence, the Washington Post’s reporting on Saudi Arabia”.
Continue reading...Apparent targeting of Amazon billionaire’s phone fits into broader pattern of behaviour by Saudi Arabia
Jeff Bezos, the billionaire owner of the Washington Post, had no reason to be suspicious when he received a WhatsApp message from the account of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia in May 2018.
Bezos and Mohammed bin Salman had attended a dinner together in Hollywood a few weeks earlier hosted by Brian Grazer, the Oscar-winning producer, and Ari Emanuel, the powerful talent agent, as part of the young crown prince’s tour of America, which was hailed by some observers as an effort to rebrand the kingdom and set it on a new course.
Continue reading...Exclusive: investigation suggests Washington Post owner was targeted five months before murder of Jamal Khashoggi
The Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos had his mobile phone “hacked” in 2018 after receiving a WhatsApp message that had apparently been sent from the personal account of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, sources have told the Guardian.
The encrypted message from the number used by Mohammed bin Salman is believed to have included a malicious file that infiltrated the phone of the world’s richest man, according to the results of a digital forensic analysis.
Continue reading...Agnès Callamard, a UN special rapporteur who led an inquiry into Saudi reporter’s killing but was barred from secretive trial, says ruling that crime was spontaneous rather than premeditated means system that allowed murder to happen remains untouched.
A court exonerated Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s inner circle of involvement in the murder at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul in October 2018 which plunged the kingdom into a diplomatic crisis
Continue reading...Court exonerates crown prince’s inner circle of involvement in murder of dissident journalist
Saudi Arabia has been accused of engaging in a mockery of justice by shielding the alleged masterminds of the killing of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, after a court effectively exonerated Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s inner circle of involvement in the murder.
The gruesome killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 stunned Saudi Arabia’s western allies, plunging the kingdom into its worst diplomatic crisis since the 9/11 attacks.
Continue reading...Investor demand pushes oil giant’s market value to $1.9tn on first day of trade in Riyadh
Saudi Aramco has secured its position as the most valuable listed company in history after investor appetite for the world’s biggest fossil fuel producer pushed its market value to $1.9tn (£1.4tn) on its first day of trade.
Shares in the Saudi state-backed oil company defied Aramco’s critics by climbing nearly $200bn above the $1.7tn valuation set before its market debut on Riyadh’s stock exchange.
Continue reading...Eddie Hearn, the boxer’s promoter, said fight ‘almost certainly’ broke UK pay-per-view record
Criticism of Anthony Joshua for boxing in Saudi Arabia does not appear to have affected his popularity with the British public, with more than a million people paying at least £24.95 to watch the heavyweight regain his world titles on Saturday – a figure that is likely to be a UK record.
Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, said: “We are waiting on the final number but it has almost certainly broken the UK pay-per-view record.”
Continue reading...Oversubscribed listing in Riyadh of 1.5% stake in state oil company will value it at $1.7tn
Saudi Aramco is poised to achieve the biggest initial public offering in history next week by raising $25.7bn for the Saudi state in its market debut.
The state-owned oil business will emerge as the world’s most valuable listed company after reportedly valuing its shares at 32 riyals ($8.53) apiece before its float on Riyadh’s stock exchange next week.
Continue reading...State-owned Saudi oil giant said it will provide the final offer price on 5 December
Bidding for shares in the world’s most profitable company will start in one week, it has been announced. Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil giant, said it plans to provide the final offer price, precise number and percentage of shares on 5 December.
Its prospectus, released on Saturday night, showed profits of $68.2bn (£53.3bn) for the first six months of this financial year, but did not include any indication of the value the Saudi government hopes to achieve.
Continue reading...Relaxation of social laws has belied repression since murder of Jamal Khashoggi, says report
Activists, clerics and other perceived critics of the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, continue to be arbitrarily detained more than a year after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a report has said.
Bin Salman has overseen the relaxing of a number of the kingdom’s restrictive social laws since assuming a leadership position in the Saudi government four years ago, most recently allowing women over 21 to obtain passports and travel abroad without the permission of a male guardian.
Continue reading...With the US gone, the implications of their departure is beginning to sink in across the Middle East
The moment that changed the Middle East arrived with a sudden silence. Just before 7pm on Sunday, the internet was cut across north-eastern Syria where, for half an hour, the Kurds of the region had been digesting a news flash. The Syrian government was returning to two towns, Manbij and Kobane. The implication quickly sunk in.
The regional capital, Qamishli, soon emptied; streets that had bustled with minibuses and shoppers became eerie and still. With the internet down phones were no help and nor were officials who had vanished along with the traffic. Air seemed to be suddenly vacuumed from the city, and the few people still around knew exactly what it meant: this was the moment power changed hands. It was a time to be scared.
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