Saudi Princess released after three years of no trial or charges
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Basmah bint Saud has been in prison along with her daughter for 3 years with no charge or trial.
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Saudi Princess Basmah bint Saud in Washington on April 2017 (AFP)
According to a human rights group on Saturday, Princess Basmah bint Saud, 57, has been released along with her daughter, by Saudi authorities.
The Princess is a member of the royal family and has been imprisoned, along with her daughter, since 2019 with no trial or charge.
Alqst for Human Rights tweeted the news of the release.
BREAKING: Basma bint Saud Al Saud and her daughter Suhoud, detained since March 2019, have been released. pic.twitter.com/tTsh6kPgzE
— ALQST for Human Rights (@ALQST_En) January 8, 2022
While imprisoned in April 2020, the Saudi King and Crown Prince were urged to release her due to her life-threatening medical issues. According to ALQST, the Princess was denied medical attention and at no time during her arrest did she face any charges.
Requests for comments went unanswered by Saudi officials and details of her health condition remain unclear.
According to a source close to the family, Princess Basmah was arrested just before a scheduled journey to Switzerland for medical treatment.
The Princess' family filed an appeal with UN specialists at the Human Rights Council in July seeking intervention in her case and stating that her treatment "may amount to torture."
Since Bin Salman's appointment in 2017 and an alleged reform, Saudi authorities have clamped down on dissidents and prospective opponents, including women's rights activists and advocates and some members of the royal family.
An outspoken critic
In a written statement to the UN in 2020, the Princess' family stated that her arrest was likely due to her "record as an outspoken critic of abuses."
Speaking to BBC Arabic in 2018, Princess Basmah accused Prince Mohammed, albeit without naming him, of refusing to accept those who did not support his overhaul plans, known as Vision 2030.
“He has a vision, Vision 2030, and I see that in that vision, there is a direction toward a type of isolation of all those who do not agree with that vision,” she said.
She is also regarded as an ally of Mohammed bin Nayef, the previously designated heir to the throne. During an anti-corruption drive in November 2017, dozens of princes and officials who were accused of claimed "bribery or treason" were imprisoned in the Ritz-Carlton hotel for 3 months.
MBS' "vision" with his own blood
Some detainees have been released, but many others face a lot of restrictions, including being barred from traveling abroad, apparently because the government fears they could discuss their cases with foreign journalists or representatives of other governments.
The most prominent is Mohammed bin Nayef, a former interior minister whom Prince Mohammed ousted as crown prince in 2017 to claim the title for himself.
After his removal, Mohammed bin Nayef was put under house arrest until March 2020, when he was arrested and detained.
At the start of his detention, Mohammed bin Nayef was held in solitary confinement, deprived of sleep, and suspended upside down by his ankles, according to two people briefed on his situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Last fall, he was moved to a villa inside the complex surrounding the King’s Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh, the capital, where he remains, the people said.
Mohammed bin Nayef is kept by himself with no television or other electronic devices and receives only limited visits from his family, the people said. He appears to have sustained lasting damage to his ankles from his treatment in detention and cannot walk without a cane.
No formal charges against him were filed up till this very moment and no one even explained why he is detained. Most Saudi experts assume that it is because Prince Mohammed fears he could impede MBS' quest to become the next Saudi king.
