In Saudi Arabia, three senior members of the royal family have been detained for unexplained reasons in what onlookers see as a consolidation of power by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Two of the men, Mohammed bin Nayef, the former crown prince, and Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, the king’s younger brother, were seen as potential rivals to the crown prince despite being first in line for the throne.
Mohammed bin Nayef was originally next to take the throne and was credited with defeating the al-Qaeda insurgency that afflicted the country in the 2000s. Prince Ahmed bin Abdelaziz one of the remaining surviving sons of the country’s founder, and was widely respected by the senior members of the royal family. In spite of reforming the conservative country, the Crown prince has been caught in a series of recent scandals.
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