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Mohammed bin Salman

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 Mohammed bin Salman  link
File:Salman Al Saud.jpg
Born1985-08-31
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
ParentsKing Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Fahda bint Falah bin Sultan bin Hathleen al-Ajmi
Children4
SpouseSara bint Mashoor
Wasted Saudi fortune on fighting other countries' proxy wars. Labelled "reformer" because he put Saudi oil company up for sale.

Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud [1][2]), known colloquially as MBS,[3][4] is the Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia.[5]

MBS has been described as the power behind the throne of his father, King Salman.[6] He was appointed Crown Prince[7] in June 2017 following his father's decision to remove Muhammad bin Nayef from all positions, making Mohammed bin Salman heir apparent to the throne.[8][9][10]

"Reformer"

Mohammed bin Salman has led several successful reforms, which include regulations restricting the powers of the religious police, and the removal of the ban on female drivers. Further cultural developments under his reign include the first Saudi public concerts by a female singer, the first Saudi sports stadium to admit women, and an increased presence of women in the workforce.[11]

Despite international praise for his strides towards liberalisation of Saudi domestic issues, commentators and human rights groups have been vocally critical of bin Salman's leadership, citing his detention and torture of human rights activists, Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, escalation of Saudi's diplomatic crisis with Qatar[12] and the start of the diplomatic crisis with Lebanon, as well as his arrests of members of the Saudi royal family in November 2017, as failure to perform pledged reforms.[13][14][15] His proposed Saudi 2030 vision includes economic, social and religious changes, and plans to list shares of the coveted, state-owned oil company Aramco.[16][17][18] Despite promised reforms, the arrests and persecutions rate of human rights activists have risen under Mohammed bin Salman. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch continue to criticise the Saudi government for its violations of human rights.[19][20][21]

Protest against visit to Britain

Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's 32-year-old crown prince, visited the UK on 7 March 2018 on an official trip[22] despite a petition signed by over 12,000 people demanding Theresa May cancel the visit:

"We call on the Prime Minister to withdraw the invitation for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia to visit the UK. The Saudi Arabian regime has one of the worst human rights records in the world. Torture and arbitrary detention are widely documented. In 2017 alone, over 100 people were executed."[23]

Disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi

On 8 October 2018, Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he was hopeful that a prominent Saudi journalist who disappeared in Istanbul last week would emerge unharmed, even after Turkish officials warned that he may have been killed inside his own nation’s consulate.

Jamal Khashoggi, 59, a Saudi dissident and journalist writing for The Washington Post, vanished after entering the Saudi consulate in the Levent district of Istanbul to take care of some personal paperwork. His disappearance has roiled the Arab world, and threatened to create fresh diplomatic troubles for the Saudi kingdom, under the sway of its ambitious crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman:

“I still have good expectations. We hope not to come across an undesirable situation about missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” President Erdogan told reporters, according to local news outlets. “As president, I am following the situation. Whatever the result, we will inform the world of it.”

The president said Turkish investigators were examining closed-circuit television footage and airport transits. Turkish officials and those briefed on the matter said Saturday night they feared that Mr Khashoggi had been killed and his body removed based on circumstantial evidence collected via closed-circuit television cameras positioned around the consulate.

Saudi Arabian officials have strongly denied that any harm has come to Mr Khashoggi at their hands, insisting he left the consulate on Tuesday shortly after entering. The Saudi consul-general has allowed Turkish authorities as well as a Reuters correspondent to examine the facility.[24]


References

  1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20171201034447/https://www.saudiembassy.net/ministries
  2. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20171014071702/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-40354415
  3. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20171124011404/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/23/opinion/saudi-prince-mbs-arab-spring.html
  4. ↑ Template:Url
  5. ↑ {http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/mohammed-bin-nayef-kingpin-new-saudi-arabia-country-experts-1500997678
  6. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160109180902/http://www.economist.com/saudi_interview?fsrc=scn%2Ftw_ec%2Ftranscript_interview_with_muhammad_bin_salman
  7. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20171024145900/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/saudi-arabia-return-moderate-open-11400298
  8. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20170622120520/http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/21/middleeast/saudi-arabia-crown-prince/index.html
  9. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/saudi-king-names-son-as-new-crown-prince-upending-the-kingdoms-succession-line/2017/06/21/e66db88d-fecc-40fe-a902-7f9afa487de9_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_saudis230am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
  10. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20170621174949/http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/saudi-royal-decrees-announcing-prince-mohammed-bin-salman-as-the-new-crown-prince
  11. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20180308191643/http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/mohammed-bin-salman-saudi-arabia-domestic-reforms-benefit-wider-world-radical-a8237261.html
  12. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20171106061142/http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/26/middleeast/saudi-crown-prince-qatar/index.html
  13. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20171118191307/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mohammed-bin-salman-saudi-arabias-prince-of-chaos_us_594acf7ee4b092ed90588b3c
  14. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031045/https://medium.com/@MiddleEastEye/mohammed-bin-salman-saudi-arabias-prince-of-chaos-f542574d9165
  15. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20161016213234/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/world/rise-of-saudi-prince-shatters-decades-of-royal-tradition.html
  16. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20171127004843/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/07/this-is-a-revolution-saudis-absorb-crown-princes-rush-to-reform
  17. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20171105131623/http://www.dw.com/en/saudi-arabias-mohammed-bin-salman-reformer-and-hardliner/a-40714307
  18. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20171125111255/https://www.ndtv.com/people/mbs-saudi-arabias-reformist-crown-prince-with-firm-vision-1771487
  19. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20171018103847/https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/02/06/saudi-arabia-intensified-repression-writers-activists
  20. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20170515004628/https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/01/11/saudi-arabia-2-rights-advocates-arrested
  21. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20171201034353/http://www.gc4hr.org/news/view/1168
  22. ↑ "UK's May confirms Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visit"
  23. ↑ "Theresa May: Cancel the invitation for Saudi Crown Prince to visit the UK"
  24. ↑ "Erdogan hopes Jamal Khashoggi still alive after officials suggest Saudi journalist killed in consulate"
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