Riyadh rejects prince's death amid purge as 'rumors'

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Saudi Arabia late on Tuesday dismissed reports of the death of a high-profile prince during the ongoing anti-corruption purge of the kingdom’s ruling family, while another prince has reportedly fled to Iran, complicating the already nervous equation between Riyadh and Tehran.

Prince Abdulaziz bin Fahd, 44, a son of the late King Fahd, was rumored to have been killed in custody or while resisting arrest amid the crackdown at the weekend. The hashtag "death of Prince Abdulaziz bin Fahd" has since featured on social media, fueling fevered speculation online.

Screenshot of a tweet from Hordan-based Al Bawaba News.

The alleged rumor gained credibility following a tweet by former FBI special agent Ali H. Soufan who confirmed that Prince Abdulaziz was killed during an attempt by the authorities to arrest him as part of the great purge of the Saudi elites. He died when his security contingent got into a firefight with regime gunmen attempting to make an arrest.

Screenshot of a tweet from former FBI special agent Ali H. Soufan.

“There is no truth whatsoever to rumors circulating in media concerning Prince Abdulaziz bin Fahd. Prince Abdulaziz is alive and well,” a spokesman for the Center for International Communication at the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information said in a statement asserting the prince’s wellbeing.

The reported death of Prince Abdulaziz came as a shock to many as it came after another high-ranking prince, Mansour bin Muqrin, was reported killed in a helicopter crash near the Yemen border. According to an Al Jazeera report, the cause of the crash wasn't immediately known.

Mansour was the son of Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, a former intelligence chief who was crown prince between January and April 2015, when he was pushed aside by his brother and current King Salman bin Abdulaziz.

Royal siege

Photos and videos of the captive princes allegedly sleeping on mattresses inside the hotel-turned-jail have gone viral on social media. Reports later suggested that those seen in the photos and videos could be guards and not the royals themselves.

The developments gained prominence amid the arrest of scores of prominent members of the Saudi royal family including princes, ministers as well as billionaire tycoon Prince Alwaleed bin Talal who owns Kingdom Holding – that has stakes in major US companies including Citigroup, Apple and Twitter – in the weekend crackdown after the launch of an anti-graft commission headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The raids are being dubbed as the biggest purge of the kingdom's elite in modern Saudi history.

The detained royals have been kept inside the luxurious Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh, according to media reports. Photos and videos of the captive princes allegedly sleeping on mattresses inside the hotel-turned-jail have gone viral on social media. Reports later suggested that those seen in the photos and videos could be guards and not the royals themselves.

The Ritz Carlton Riyadh's website shows that there are no rooms available in November. The hotel recently hosted the Future Investment Initiative (FII) that sought to project the Gulf kingdom as a global business destination, drawing 3,500 corporate honchos from across the world.

Screenshot of a tweet from Al Jazeera journalist Saad Abedine.

Meanwhile, reports suggest all members of the sprawling Saudi royal family have been barred from leaving the country. Civil authority has been ordered “to prevent all private and royal planes from taking off to prevent any suspects from fleeing,” according to Al Jazeera journalist Saad Abedine.

With the purge, which observers describe as a bold but risky power play, Prince Mohammed has centralized power to a degree that is unprecedented in recent Saudi history. It is being speculated that King Salman may abdicate in Mohammed's favor any time now.

Prince Turki seeks asylum in Iran

Screenshot of a tweet from Simon Aran, Israel Radio's diplomatic correspondent covering Arab affairs.

As the rumors about Abdulaziz’s death picked up on social and local media, his nephew and son of King Fahd’s eldest surviving son, Prince Turki bin Mohamed bin Fahd fled the kingdom for Iran, where he has reportedly sought asylum according to reports.

Prince Turki’s father Prince Mohamed bin Fahd, who is also the elder brother of Prince Abdulaziz, is among the princes arrested in the anti-corruption drive.

Turki’s escape to Iran could become another flashpoint between Riyadh and Tehran, which have traded fierce accusations over Yemen, just short of declaring war.

According to observers, Iran may be driven by political opportunism in providing asylum to Prince Turkey.

“Iran does not intend to deliver Prince Turki bin Mohamed bin Fahd to Saudi Arabia [as it] sees it as a bargaining chip,” Simon Aran, Israel Radio's diplomatic correspondent covering Arab affairs, commented in a tweet in Arabic.

Prince Abdulaziz's opulent life

Prince Abdulaziz is the youngest and the most favored son of late King Fahd, who died in 2005 after ruling Saudi Arabia for 23 years. Abdulaziz was first appointed as minister of state without portfolio in May 1998. He was subsequently elevated to become the head of the Office of the Council of Ministers in January 2000, when he was 28 years old.

Prince Abdulaziz bin Fahd (right) with his aides. /Reuters Photo

After King Fahd’s death, the prince reportedly began to live in Switzerland and returned to the kingdom once in a while to attend the official meetings. In mid-2011, Abdulaziz relinquished his official position voluntarily.

The prince’s wealth is estimated in billions and he’s known for his flamboyant and globe-trotting lifestyle.

Abdulaziz bin Fahd's investments in London include a share in Heron Tower in the City of London, and he is said to have a 5.27 billion US dollars property portfolio in the USA alone, according to a Daily Mail report.

He once left a 70,000 US dollars tip during a visit to a trendy restaurant on the Spanish island of Ibiza, and offered a mansion for sale in Kensington Palace Gardens, the so-called 'Billionaire's Row' in west London, for 132 million US dollars in 2013, the report said.

Prince Abdulaziz made international headlines in August 2014 when his 10-car convoy was ambushed in Paris by balaclava-wearing gunmen brandishing AK47s who made off with 300,000 US dollars in a sensational daylight robbery, straight out of a Hollywood thriller.

Abdulaziz was also in news earlier when a member of his entourage was accused of rape in New York’s Plaza hotel in 2010. The trial of the high-profile case which ran for the next couple of years put focus on the prince’s wealth and opulent lifestyle.

Prince Abdulaziz is known to be involved in Saudi Oger Ltd, a company which until it ceased operations in the summer of this year, was owned by Lebanon’s Hariri family, according to the Montreal-based Centre for Research on Globalization.

The company was founded by Lebanon’s ex-prime minister Rafik Hariri, who built Saudi Oger into a large company with the assistance of Abdulaziz’s father King Fahd. Rafik Hariri’s son Saad Hariri, who unexpectedly announced his resignation as Lebanon’s prime minister during a visit to Saudi Arabia on Saturday, was in charge of the company until it ceased operations.

It has been speculated that Hariri’s resignation wasn’t voluntary, with Lebanese officials and Iran claiming the decision was “imposed” by Saudi Arabia.