Agnes Callamard, the United Nations special rapporteur on summary executions and extrajudicial killings, and Gina Haspel, the head of the CIA, both concluded that the order to murder Khashoggi came from MBS.
In March 2020, Muhammed bin Nayef was arrested along with his Uncle Prince Ahmed. The move to arrest the former Crown prince along with the younger brother of King Salman was an obvious tactic to remove potential rivals to the future succession to the throne after the current King Salman should die. MBS wants to secure his seat on the throne of the only absolute monarchy.
The Wall Street Journal reported there were claims made by Saudi authorities that the two men were plotting a coup against King Salman and his son MBS, but no proof was offered.
Mohammed bin Nayef was at first held in solitary confinement, deprived of sleep, and suspended upside down by his ankles, which has left him permanently unable to walk without a cane. He is kept alone with no television or other electronic devices and receives only limited visits from his family. In the fall of 2021, he was moved to a villa inside the complex surrounding King Salman's Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh.
Besides Muhammed bin Nayef's success in counter-terrorism and his educational background, he was seen as among the staunchest supporters of the US among the Saudi royals, as was his Uncle Prince Ahmed. Experts believe this is a further factor why MBS targeted the two for arrest. MBS is said to harbor disdain for the US and wants to move away from being dependent on Washington. Trump's famous speech about the US being the only thing holding the Saudi King on his throne reinforced MBS's resolve to distance the royal family from the US.
Earlier this month, it was reported Princess Basmah, daughter of Saud, the son of the founder of Saudi Arabia, was released from prison after three years of detention without charges. She would be the niece of both King Salman and Prince Ahmed.
Her daughter, Suhoud al-Sharif, was also released from Al-Ha'ir prison. The mother-daughter pair's arrest came in March 2019 after Princess Basmah had planned a trip to Switzerland to receive treatment for a heart ailment.
Princess Basmah had been an outspoken critic of the Saudi treatment of women's issues. But, experts also point to the fact she was an ally of Mohammed bin Nayef as being another reason MBS locked her up.
While speaking to BBC Arabic in 2018, Princess Basmah accused MBS of refusing to accept those who did not support his overhaul plans, known as Vision 2030. "He has a vision, Vision 2030, and I see that in that vision, there is a direction toward a type of isolation of all those who do not agree with that vision," she said.
The future King of Saudi Arabia may want to keep his distance from Washington, but that doesn't mean that the US isn't interested in who takes up the throne in the kingdom in the sand.
Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist
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