Top military commander forcibly disappeared as purge widens in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabian authorities have forcibly disappeared a high-ranking military commander amid attempts by the kingdom’s de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman to eliminate his political opponents, dissidents, human rights advocates and potential rivals to the throne.
Saudi activist Abdul Karim Abdul Kheil in a post published on his Twitter page wrote that senior security officials and military figures in Saudi Arabia are frequently liquidated in the midst of power struggles between the kingdom's princes.
Abdul Kheil pointed to the case of Lieutenant General Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Hilal, a former Saudi interior ministry official, noting that his whereabouts and fate remain shrouded in mystery.
The activist highlighted that bin Hilal, who held several senior security positions, was known to have close ties with former Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who the incumbent Mohammad bin Salman saw as his most formidable challenger.
Bin Hilal’s connections with senior members of the ruling Al Saud family and former authorities made him easy prey after King Salman removed bin Nayef as crown prince and replaced him with his son, bin Salma, in June 2017, Abdul Kheil stressed.
The report comes after a human rights organization sounded an alarm over the fate of political dissidents incarcerated in Saudi jails.
In its latest report, Sanad human rights organization, which monitors and exposes human rights violations in the Arab country, said civil rights activists and scholars feel threatened if they express their opinions or make critical comments.
The organization lamented that concerns about the fate of imprisoned activists in Saudi Arabia have increased in light of the Saudi leadership's heavy-handed clampdown, arrest campaigns, persecution of dissidents, and pervasive distortion and misrepresentation of facts.
MG
