People in the Middle East are wondering if Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is dead because the 32-year-old media-savvy leader of the oil kingdom has been unnaturally quiet of late.
Bin Salman hasn’t been seen in the public eye since his meeting with the Spanish royal family on April 12. On that same say, heavy gunfire was heard near a royal palace in Riyadh, the kingdom’s capital. Although Saudi Arabia’s state news agency claimed it was a security force shooting down a toy drone that had gotten too close to the royal property, some wondered if the gunfire was in fact a coup led by Saudi royals trying to topple King Salman, and some are certain that is the case.
Last week, the Iranian newspaper Kayhan reported that the Crown Prince was hit by two bullets during the attack and may actually be dead, citing "a secret service report sent to the senior officials of an unnamed Arab state."
The paper said: "There is plenty of evidence to suggest that the absence of nearly 30 days of Muhammad bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, is due to an incident which is being hidden from the public."
Kayhan also pointed out that Bin Salman was not seen on camera when the new U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Riyadh in late April, while his father, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir were photographed.
To dismiss the rumor, the Saudi royal family on Wednesday released a photo of Bin Salman at a cabinet meeting in Jeddah and confirmed that he is alive. But people are still not convinced.
If indeed there was a coup on April 21, it will most likely be a move of retaliation against Bin Salman’s sweeping anti-corruption crackdown in November 2017, in which he detained dozens of wealthy royal members.
Read more at www.armanikedu.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment