An influential Saudi prince has launched an unprecedented campaign against the country’s current leadership, at a time when the kingdom is facing huge criticism over it’s hajj management, it’s role in Yemeni war and downward trend of oil price.
Quoting the prince, one of the grandsons of the kingdom’s founder, Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, British liberal newspaper The Guardian reported that there is unease among the royal family as well as among the people at the leadership of King Salman, who was inaugurated in January.
The newspaper refrained from mentioning the name of the prince for security concerns.
According to the report, the prince wrote two letters earlier this month calling for the king to be removed.
“The king is not in a stable condition and in reality the son of the king [Mohammed bin Salman] is ruling the kingdom,” The Guardian quoted the prince as saying.
“So four or possibly five of my uncles will meet soon to discuss the letters. They are making a plan with a lot of nephews and that will open the door. A lot of the second generation is very anxious.”
A double tragedy in Mecca – the collapse of a crane that killed more than 100, followed by a stampede last week that killed more than 700 – has raised about royal stewardship of the holiest site in Islam.
The letters in Arabic call on the 13 surviving sons of Ibn Saud – specifically the princes Talal, Turki and Ahmed bin Abdulaziz – to unite and remove the leadership in a palace coup, before choosing a new government from within the royal family.
The letters are unlike anything that has happened since King Faisal deposed King Saud in a palace coup in 1964.
The newspaper asserted that the prince behind the letters claims to have received widespread support from both within the royal family and society at large.
