Saudi Arabia's Dissenting Princes Are Being Hunted

Saudi Arabia - a key ally of the UK and America - has been ruled as an absolute monarchy since its foundation. Any opposition in the country is often brutally oppressed. BBC Arabic has been investigating allegations the Saudi monarchy has operated a system of illegal abduction and capture of dissident princes who have criticised the government, including evidence of princes kidnapped in Europe and forced back to Saudi Arabia, where they've not been heard from since. Reda El Mawy reports.

Saudi Arabia's Dissenting Princes Are Being Hunted

Saudi Arabia - a key ally of the UK and America - has been ruled as an absolute monarchy since its foundation. Any opposition in the country is often brutally oppressed. BBC Arabic has been investigating allegations the Saudi monarchy has operated a system of illegal abduction and capture of dissident princes who have criticised the government, including evidence of princes kidnapped in Europe and forced back to Saudi Arabia, where they've not been heard from since. Reda El Mawy reports.

Saudi Prince Arrested Over Alleged Sexual Assault In Los Angeles

THE TELEGRAPH: Majed Abdulaziz Al-Saud was arrested on charges of trying to force a Beverly Hills estate worker to perform oral sex

A Saudi prince has been arrested on charges of trying to force a worker at a Beverly Hills estate to perform oral sex, Los Angeles police said on Thursday.

Majed Abdulaziz Al-Saud, 28, was arrested on Wednesday and was released on £198,000 bond the next day, according to police and online jail records.

The Los Angeles police department's special consul division said the prince does not have diplomatic immunity, according to the Los Angeles Times and KCBS-TV. » | Reuters | Friday, September 25, 2015

Saudi Princes 'Supported Al-Qaeda Before 9/11' Claims Twentieth Hijacker

September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: As US-Saudi relations enter delicate phase, top former al-Qaeda operative Zacarias Moussaoui alleges high-level Saudi involvement in Osama bin Laden terror network

Senior members of the Saudi royal family were major al-Qaeda donors and were intimately involved with Osama bin Laden's terror network in the 1990s, one of the group's former members has testified to a New York court.

Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called "twentieth hijacker" who had taken flying lessons but was arrested weeks before the September 11 attacks, made the claims in a long-running lawsuit alleging Saudi Arabian involvement in the plot to bring down the World Trade Centre.

Moussaoui, a 46-year-old French national who was diagnosed with delusional paranoid schizophrenia but declared mentally fit to stand trial in 2006, told lawyers that he had been ordered by bin Laden to compile a database of influential supporters.

"Shaykh Osama wanted to keep a record who give money ... who is to be listened to or who contribute to – to the jihad," he said in broken English, according to the testimony that was first reported by the New York Times and has been seen by The Telegraph.

Among those listed were Prince Turki al-Faisal, then the Saudi intelligence chief; Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, the longtime Saudi ambassador to the United States and Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, a prominent billionaire investor. » | Peter Foster, Washington | Wednesday, February 04, 2015

Saudi Prince Has No State Immunity from £12 million 'Secret Wife' Claim, Court Rules

Janan Harb claims she was secretly married to King Fahd

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Decision by London court opens the way for a potentially embarrassing court case involving a British woman who claims she was secretly married to the late king of Saudi Arabia

A British woman who claims she was secretly married to King Fahd of Saudi Arabia has won a key victory in a multi-million pound legal battle as the High Court rejected a "state immunity" claim by the late monarch's son.

Janan Harb, 65, told the High Court in London that she wed King Fahd when he was a prince and an interior minister in 1968, but that she was forced to leave the country several years later, before he ascended to the throne.

She claims she is owed a lump sum of £12 million which was promised to her 11 years ago, plus the ownership of two high-value apartments in central London.

Lawyers for Prince Abdul Aziz, the king’s son, argued he had “state immunity” and the court had no jurisdiction to try Mrs Harb’s claim.

But Mrs Justice Rose threw out the prince’s argument, opening the way for a full hearing which risks embarrassing the House of Saud by exposing details of life inside what Mrs Harb has previously described as a royal harem, as well as new claims about their business dealings. » | David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent | Monday, June 09, 2014

French Jewish Mother Wins Custody Battle Against Saudi Prince
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A French Jewish mother has won a custody battle in France against a Saudi prince, who has been ordered to return their 10-year old daughter he was alleged to have kidnapped after their cross-religious romance turned sour.

The Paris criminal court ordered Prince Sattam al-Saud from the kingdom’s founding royal family, to hand over custody of his daughter Aya to her French mother, Candice Cohen-Ahnine, and provide child support of €10,000 (£8,300) a month.

For the past three-and-a-half years, the prince has kept Aya in a Riyadh palace despite efforts by the French foreign ministry and President Nicolas Sarkozy's office to resolve the issue.

But the French court ruling appears to have had no effect on the prince. “What do I care of Sarkozy?” he is cited as telling [Le] Nouvel Observateur magazine. “If need be, I’ll go like [Osama] bin Laden and hide in the mountains with Aya.”

Miss Cohen-Ahnin, 34, and the prince met in London 14 years ago at Brown’s nightclub and their daughter was born in November 2001.

Their relationship continued until 2006 when he allegedly announced that he was obliged to marry a cousin, but that she could be a second wife. She refused and they separated.

Miss Cohen-Ahnine claimed that her daughter was taken from her during a visit to Saudi Arabia in 2008 and that she was held in the prince’s palace where she had only fleeting meetings with her daughter.

She said she managed to leave when a maid left her door open and she sought refuge in the French embassy.

Miss Cohen-Ahnin was eventually spirited out of the country after the prince allegedly produced a document purporting that she had been Muslim but had converted to Judaism — a crime punishable by death. » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Tuesday, January 31, 2012

LEX TIMES.fr: Une mère se bat pour récupérer sa petite princesse saoudienne : Le 12 janvier dernier, un juge aux affaires familiales a accordé à Candice Cohen-Ahnine l’exercice de l’autorité parentale sur sa fille Aya, retenue depuis 2008 à Riyad (Arabie Saoudite) au sein de la famille royale Al Saud. Une affaire complexe, l’enfant est née de sa relation avec le prince Sattam, membre de la famille royale Al Saud. Retour sur le cauchemar d’une mère auquel la Justice et les services diplomatiques français pourraient mettre fin. » | Par Emilie Gougache | LexTimes.fr | samedi 28 janvier 2012

Villagers Defeat Saudi Prince in Footpath Battle
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A group of villagers have defeated a Saudi Prince in a battle over an historic footpath.

Prince Khalid Abdullah came up against a group of more than 700 villagers in sleepy Shipbourne in Kent after he closed off a footpath - which dates back to Roman times - running through his plush Fairlawne Estate.

Prince Abdullah - who owns a string of top horses and has won almost all the European classic races - banished villagers from using part of the Greensland Way footpath which runs through his land and behind the village's St Giles Church.

But the billionaire prince - the first cousin of Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and brother-in-law of the late King Fahd - didn't count on the villagers mounting a campaign against him.

And now, after a three year battle, locals have won the right to use the path after the Planning Inspectorate overturned a decision by Kent County Council to ban locals from the path.

The council acted on information from the Prince, saying that dog walkers were worrying his sheep, that the path invaded his privacy and was a threat to the security of the estate.

But locals were left fuming after not being consulted over the footpath and mounted an appeal to get it re-opened to the public after fences were installed blocking them from the path.

And on Friday last week, they were successful after the Planning Inspectorate - which held a public inquiry into the closure of the footpath in June this year - announced its decision that the path should be re-opened to the public. » | Friday, November 25, 2011

WikiLeaks Cables: Saudi Princes Throw Parties Boasting Drink, Drugs and Sex *
THE GUARDIAN: Royals flout puritanical laws to throw parties for young elite while religious police are forced to turn a blind eye

These Saudi students at a prayer event in Riyadh conform to the puritanical image of the country, but worldly pleasures are available behind closed doors to the very rich, WikiLeaks cables show. Photograph: The Guardian
In what may prove a particularly incendiary cable, US diplomats describe a world of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll behind the official pieties of Saudi Arabian royalty.

Jeddah consulate officials described an underground Halloween party, thrown last year by a member of the royal family, which broke all the country's Islamic taboos. Liquor and prostitutes were present in abundance, according to leaked dispatches, behind the heavily-guarded villa gates.

The party was thrown by a wealthy prince from the large Al-Thunayan family. The diplomats said his identity should be kept secret. A US energy drinks company also put up some of the finance.

"Alcohol, though strictly prohibited by Saudi law and custom, was plentiful at the party's well-stocked bar. The hired Filipino bartenders served a cocktail punch using sadiqi, a locally-made moonshine," the cable said. "It was also learned through word-of-mouth that a number of the guests were in fact 'working girls', not uncommon for such parties."

The dispatch from the US partygoers, signed off by the consul in Jeddah, Martin Quinn, added: "Though not witnessed directly at this event, cocaine and hashish use is common in these social circles."

The underground party scene is "thriving and throbbing" in Saudi Arabia thanks to the protection of Saudi royalty, the dispatch said. But it is only available behind closed doors and for the very rich. >>> Heather Brooke | Tuesday, December 07, 2010

*And, of course, we shouldn't forget about their fondness for pretty boys. – © Mark

Saudi 'Prince' Charged with Murdering His 'Aide' at London Landmark Hotel
THE TELEGRAPH: A member of the Saudi Arabian Royal Family has been charged with murdering his aide at the five-star Landmark hotel in London, Scotland Yard said.

Saud Bin Abdulaziz Bin Nasir Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, 33, is accused of killing Bandar Abdullah Abdulaziz earlier this week.

He is also accused of committing grievous bodily harm on him, police said.

A post-mortem examination found Abdullah Abdulaziz was strangled and had also suffered head injuries.

Mr Abdulaziz was found dead at the five-star Landmark Hotel in Marylebone, central London. >>> Andrew Hough | Thursday, February 18, 2010