In the first official recognition of his detention, the General Directorate of Prisons in the Kingdom announced that former Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef had a heart attack and was subsequently transferred to the intensive care unit.
This came, in a tweet on behalf of the Directorate on “Twitter” today, Sunday, before it was later deleted, and denied the reports of the death of the 60-year-old prince.
The tweet said that a specialized medical cadre oversees the health of Prince Bin Nayef around the clock.
And Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, he served as the former crown prince and deputy prime minister and minister of interior of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia until his dismissal on June 21, 2017.
The detainee is currently one of the sons of Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, and he is the first grandson of King Abdulaziz to become crown prince.
The American MSNBC called him the “war on terror”.
This statement is the first official Saudi recognition of the arrest of “Bin Nayef”, since it was reported that he and Prince “Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz”, in March, as part of a campaign launched by the authorities recently, and included a number of senior princes of the royal family.
Observers believe that the arrest of the two princes, “bin Nayef” and “bin Abdulaziz”, may be a proactive step to manage the risks that prevent the Crown Prince, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, from assuming the throne as a successor to his father, because they are possible alternatives to take over the Kingdom.
Over a period of five years (2015-2020), Bin Salman steadily accumulated power under a different arm, arresting, detaining, and exiling personalities, and in some cases killing and liquidating them.
After these years, he now appears ready to become king, according to the opinion of the American Wall Street Journal, which strengthened his control and shook the foundations of Saud House by eliminating or neutralizing his perceived competitors and vocal critics, including senior family members and rivals in the Kingdom.
The American “Wall Street Journal” had revealed on (7 March 2020) the arrest of Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the brother of King Samman, and Prince Muhammad bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
The newspaper pointed out that “Royal Guards wearing black masks and clothes went to the homes of the two men and arrested them and searched their homes,” noting that they had been charged with “treason.”
A few days ago, Human Rights Watch revealed that Prince Faisal bin Abdullah was living in isolation from the outside world, after he had been detained by Saudi authorities since March.
In November 2017, Bin Salman carried out the largest arrest campaign in the Kingdom, targeting members of the royal family, officials and business leaders who were detained at the “Ritz-Carlton” hotel in the capital Riyadh as part of an alleged anti-corruption campaign.
Among the detainees held in the same hotel, more than 350 royal family, officials and businessmen.
Thirty-six member states of the Human Rights Council out of 47 countries, including the European Union with all its twenty-eight members, previously condemned the continued arrests in the kingdom, which he described as “arbitrary” for human rights defenders and using anti-terrorism laws to silence their opponents.