Saudi Monarchy Exposed

House of Saud documentary exposes the royal family who rules the Saudi Arabia. Despite the kingdom’s relentless brutal campaign and strict media control, activists have tried to expose the extent of the regime’s barbarity and dismal human rights record through various means, including social media and this recent documentary.

The UK government has been under increasing pressure to be stronger in its public condemnation of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses. This includes its notoriously poor record in relation to women's rights and its extensive use of the death penalty, which has risen rapidly in recent years and has seen even young activists placed on death row.

Saudi Dynasty: Security of the West Passes into Shaky Hands

THE AUSTRALIAN: A CORTEGE of princes moved across the bleak desert. On their shoulders they bore to his rest their father, Abdullah, king of Saudi Arabia and ruler of the richest oil kingdom on earth.

A plain shroud covered his corpse. The monarch was laid in an unmarked grave. His heirs heaped up a small cairn of stones and went away.

It was a farewell obedient to the strict Wahhabi version of Islam that governs Saudi Arabia.

Within hours the new ruling order emerged. The designated successor, Salman, 79, the king’s half-brother, assumed the throne. A younger brother, Muqrin, 69, was named Crown Prince.

And the dynasty appointed Mohammed bin Nayef, a stripling of 55, as Deputy Crown Prince. The edifice of Saudi rule, still the centrepiece of American strategy in the Middle East, looked solid.

US President Barack Obama will cut short a visit to India to travel to Riyadh tomorrow, where he will meet the new monarch. ( video) » | Michael Sheridan and Hala Jaber | The Times | Monday, January 26, 2015