UK MPs, Lawyers Request Saudi Visit to Check on Missing Princes

By Staff, The Guardian

A group of British MPs and lawyers asked to visit Saudi Arabia to discover the fate of two high-profile Saudi princes, the former crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz.

The panel has been set up to investigate and report on their detention as well as that of other key political figures. The princes have reportedly been denied legal advice, medical care and contact with their family since they disappeared in March.

Conservative MP Crispin Blunt, who chairs the panel, said: “Our panel has submitted a request to the Saudi embassy in London for their assistance in organizing a visit to the former crown prince Nayef and Prince Abdulaziz in order to establish the conditions of their detention.

“We have requested a visit to review the conditions under which they are being held along with permission to carry out an independent medical evaluation of their current health. Following an initial meeting with me, the Saudi ambassador to the UK has agreed to meet our panel in full more formally next week.”

Relatively, Saudi ambassador, Prince Khalid bin Bandar, informally met Blunt, the former chair of the foreign affairs select committee, this week.

Blunt used a similar tactic in September 2019 to press the Saudis to release detained women’s rights activists, some of whom were released at least temporarily after the panel was formed.

Prince Mohammed is a former intelligence chief and former interior minister well known to the British government. Prince Ahmed is a brother of King Salman and had been living in exile in London until returning to the kingdom this year. No formal charges have been levelled against them.

The two men had been considered as possible rivals to the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader who succeeded Mohammed bin Nayef in June 2017.