Three Saudi Princes Go Missing: Kidnapped By Saudi Royal Family?
Another Saudi prince has gone missing after criticizing the Saudi Arabian King, and he’s not the first Saudi prince to disappear under mysterious circumstances. The Guardian is reporting today that Saudi Prince Sultan bin Turki boarded a flight from Cairo on February 1, and hasn’t been seen since.
Said Prince Sultan bin Turki has been involved in legal proceedings against the Saudi Royal Family after they allegedly abducted him in 2003 and forced him to return to Saudi Arabia. Prince Sultan isn’t the first member of the Saudi Arabian Royal Family to go missing in recent months, leading some to speculate that the royal family may be abducting and “disappearing” members of the family who have been troublesome or critical of King Salman of Saudi Arabia.
“I am supposed to come to Cairo this week by royal aircraft, if you didn’t find me they have taken me to Riyadh, try to do something,” Prince Sultan reportedly told a close friend before his disappearance, reports the Guardian.
The International Business Times speculates that the Saudi Royal family may be abducting and repatriating troublesome princes back to Saudi Arabia, particularly princes that have caused trouble for the Saudi Royal Family abroad. Prince Sultan’s father himself has been living in self-imposed exile for years, after a public and vicious clash with the Saudi Royal Family.
Two other Saudi princes have gone missing in recent years after voicing criticism of Saudi Arabia, the royal family, or the government itself. Both Prince Turki bin Bandar, and Prince Saud bin Saif al-Nasr have gone missing in the past few years.
Prince Turki bin Bandar, another Saudi prince who has not been seen or heard from in years, reportedly defected to France after working as a police officer in Saudi Arabia. He wrote a tell-all book about the Saudi Royal family and applied for political asylum in France. He fought Saudi Arabian custom and law from abroad, advocating for nonviolent political reform in Saudi Arabia. But after July, 2015, Prince Turki bin Bandar went missing after traveling to Morocco for business.
@Basics_Of_Saudi @abrownlad do you know where another missing Saudi Prince has gone? https://t.co/5kDDEHmKcD
— Nihal Arthanayake ????????????????? (@TherealNihal) March 29, 2016
“Someone gave Turki bin Bandar the impression Morocco was safe, so he went there to do some business and the Moroccan government took him and gave him to the Saudis,” a source told the Guardian.
The other Saudi prince to have gone missing, was reportedly abducted by the Saudi Royal Family after posting a series of tweets critical of the Saudi regime. Prince Saud bin Saif criticized the Saudi Royal family on Twitter in 2014, stating that billions of dollars worth of Saudi Arabian aid to Egypt had been embezzled under the previous King, and in 2015, Saud called for the removal of the current King of Saudi Arabia, King Salman – his great-uncle.
Saudi Prince Saud bin Saif disappeared under mysterious circumstances later that year, after he entered into business with a Russian-Italian business consortium. Saud was also one of the only members of the Saudi Royal Family to endorse a controversial letter penned by another Saudi Prince that called for the removal of the Saudi King.
“Saud bin Saif was approached by a Russian-Italian business consortium. They sent a private jet to take him to a meeting he thought was in Italy. He ended up in [Saudi Arabia],” a friend of Prince Saud told the Guardian.
According to the Guardian, Saudi Arabia has a long history of forced abductions and kidnappings of members of the Royal Family who have gone abroad to escape the political and cultural influence of Saudi Arabia. Many of whom eventually come out and criticize the Saudi regime’s handling of the country’s massive oil wealth.
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