Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed keeps elites jailed a year after the Ritz-Carlton detentions

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Somewhere in this kingdom, Prince Turki bin Abdullah is locked away.

Turki, 47, has been promoted to King Abdullah and a pilot with advanced degrees who is trained in the United States and Britain. He was the powerful governor of Riyadh province, then chief executive of the multibillion-dollar King Abdullah Foundation, which funds charitable work around the world.

He is now among an unknown number of superwealthy Saudis who remains a full year after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman startled his country by turning Riyadh's posh Ritz-Carlton hotel into a 5-star jail for some of the nation's most prominent citizens in what he called an anti-corruption sweep.

Prince Turki, who officials have reportedly referred to the construction of the Riyadh subway. His chief of staff, Gen. Ali al-Qahtani was also arrested and fully explained.

Early this year, the attorney general said, "We have more than $ 106 trillion in cash, real estate, businesses, securities and other assets recovered in the Ritz operation.

Mohammed said in last month's interview with Bloomberg only eight men were still detained. He offered no other details, except to say, "They're with their lawyers and facing the system that we have in Saudi Arabia."

Ritz detainees still locked up.

Prince Khaled bin Talal, 56, has a cousin of Mohammed and Prince Turki. Khaled is a businessman and noted religious conservative who reportedly opposed the crown prince's decision to strip power of the country's notorious religious police.

Human rights activists and other analysts said Jamal Khashoggi on Oct. 2. Khashoggi's murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul at the hands of Saudi agents has strained relations with Washington and Europe and has drawn attention to the crown of his rights.

"Said Yahya Assiri, a Saudi human rights activist living in self-exile in London.

But he is against the overstatement of the importance of the Prince Khaled, presiding over the king of the kingdom, King Salman, are under stress .

"I think this is going to be scrutinized," said Adam Coogle, Middle East Researcher for Human Rights Watch, who is closely monitoring the kingdom.

Muhammad's roundup of wealthy Saudis a year ago and he is one of the most powerful rivals within his family.

"It's about money and power," said a person close to the Saudi royal family. "Mohammed bin Salman understands that if you take their money, you take away their power."

Faced with long detentions or other punishments, some of the benefits of a claim, which often amounts to most of their net worth, according to accounts of family, friends and human rights groups.

Many Saudis and foreign observers have applauded Mohammed for what they have seen as a long-overdue reckoning for the clubby culture of royals and well-connected families, who have long treated Saudi Arabia's land and oil rich as their own.

But others see the detentions – and reports of torture and the Ritz – a brutal move by Mohammed to settle scores and solidify his personal power. Critics say that explanation fits with his record of arresting of human rights and women's right activists and even clerics who disagree with his policies.

Saudi officials strongly deny anyone has been tortured: "That is not who we are," one official said. "We do not torture. That word has never been in our vocabulary in Saudi Arabia. "

Ongoing tensions

The crown prince appears in the King Abdullah in particular. Several observers said this was the product of the tensions between the Salman and Abdullah wings of the family that's going back many years but especially pronounced because of Mohammed's rapid rise to power.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, left, and Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul-Aziz, third right, praying with other royal Prince Sattam bin Abdel Aziz in 2013. (Saudi Press Agency / AP)

Prince Turki in recent years had been concerned with the evidence of Mohammed's accumulation of power, especially his investigation into the Ministry of Interior. the royal family.

In addition to jailing Prince Turki, Mohammed also arrested three of Abdullah's other sounds, including Prince Muteib bin Abdullah, 65, head of the National Guard, who was fired from his job. Two other sounds, Prince Faisal bin Abdullah, 40, to form head of the Saudi Red Crescent Society, and Prince Mishaal bin Abdullah, to form governor of Mecca province, were briefly detained after they complained about the death of Qahtani, 55, who had been "in the peak of health," when he was arrested, according to the person close to the royal family.

Also detained two months after the initial Ritz roundup was Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz bin Salman, 36, who is married to a daughter of King Abdullah. His father was also arrested, and the two remain in detention, according to his lawyer.

Several people with ties to the royal family Mohammed Abdullah's family is thought to be able to compete with the King Abdullah Foundation fund, overseen by Prince Turki, which is estimated to be worth $ 20 trillion to $ 30 trillion.

Salman, while still governor of Riyadh province, began grooming his son for leadership roles, naming him as a top adviser while Mohammed was still in his early twenties. When Salman became crown prince in 2011, also serving as defense minister, Mohammed was again installed as a top adviser.

At the time, King Abdullah was worried about Mohammed's rapid ascent, according to a Western diplomat with decades of experience in Riyadh. "King Abdullah was concerned about what kind of authority being given to young women, who was not even yet," the diplomat said.

Muhammad drew King Abdullah 's blessings when he came to Muhammad's stock market investments, prompting the royal court to "censor" Muhammad, according to a person close to the royal family.

Later, Mohammed again angered King Abdullah by firing a series of deputies in the defense ministry, that person said. Abdullah moved to ban Mohammed from the ministry.

The resentments ran both ways. Salman became upset when King Abdullah named another of their brothers to succeed Salman as Riyadh governor, the diplomat said. Salman had held the governor's post since 1963 and wanted to keep it in his family line, the diplomat said.

'Treated as criminals'

According to numerous media reports, some of the detainees are being held in al-Haar high-security prison south of Riyadh. Others are reportedly locked in private homes and are tracked with ankle-monitors.

Those being detained, according to media reports and accounts of family members, friends and others

-Adel Fakeih, 59, the mayor of Jiddah and minister of economy and planning.

-Walid Fitaihi, 54, prominent physician who hosted a popular television show dealing with health and wellness, founded a hospital in Jiddah and holds American citizenship.

-Amr al-Dabbagh, 52, chairman of the Jiddah-based Al-Dabbagh Group and head of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, one of the top economic positions in the country

Hussein al-Amoudi, 72, a Saudi-Ethiopian businessman who had a net worth of $ 8.1 billion last year from his diversified interests in a Swedish oil refinery, Saudi gas stations and an Ethiopian conglomerate involved in gold mining, farming and construction, according to Forbes.

-Bakr bin Laden, Jiddah-based chairman of the powerful Saudi Binladin Group, has a multibillion-dollar conglomerate, has been one of the country's most successful and influential companies.

Beyond any bad blood between the Salman and Abdullah wings of the royal family or effort to bring wealthy Saudis to heel, some observers also see historic regional rivalries at play in the detentions, noting those locked up disproportionately from the Hijaz region on the Red Sea, including Jiddah and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

"These are the families that helped Abdul Aziz unify and build the country in the 1920s and 30s," said Robert Lacey, a British historian who has written extensively about Saudi Arabia and the royal family. "Now they are treated as criminals."

Fahim reported from Istanbul.

Read more:

Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman is 'chief of the tribe' in a cowed House of Saud

Secret recordings give insight

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook