There is no safe passage in Saudi Arabia anymore. It is foolish to believe travel to that country is safe for anyone. The same goes for Russia and Putin's puppet strings to Trump. The American embassy is nearly shut down in Moscow. It is time to realize these strongmen are a danger to global peace.
Princess Basmah devoted her life to humanitarian works. Her life's work should place her in an exalted position in Saudi Arabia and instead, Bin Salman has decided to detain her to tap her power and wealth. This is an assault against humanity and more proof that Saudi Arabia is not a good partner to any USA interests.
May 30, 2020
By Bill Bostock
It was getting late on February 28, 2019, (click here) when Princess Basmah bint Saud bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and her daughter, 28-year-old Suhoud al-Sharif, returned to their seafront penthouse in Jeddah.
A city on Saudi Arabia's west coast, Jeddah is known for its easygoing pace. The corniche, a popular seafront park, is packed with families most evenings. Gentle winds roll off the Red Sea, passing the picnics, and crossing the road up into the city. It's a relaxed Saudi Arabia.
At home, overlooking the corniche, the pair counted down the minutes until midnight, when it would be March 1, and the princess' 54th birthday.
"O God, protect her with your eyes that do not sleep," al-Sharif wrote on her private Facebook page, adding a photo of her mother, and rows of heart-shaped emojis.
As they sat, the elevator doors inside their penthouse slid open, and out stepped a group of eight men. The time stamp on the internal security tape read 11:41 p.m....
...Basmah and her daughter have not been seen in public since.
By Bill Bostock
It was getting late on February 28, 2019, (click here) when Princess Basmah bint Saud bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and her daughter, 28-year-old Suhoud al-Sharif, returned to their seafront penthouse in Jeddah.
A city on Saudi Arabia's west coast, Jeddah is known for its easygoing pace. The corniche, a popular seafront park, is packed with families most evenings. Gentle winds roll off the Red Sea, passing the picnics, and crossing the road up into the city. It's a relaxed Saudi Arabia.
At home, overlooking the corniche, the pair counted down the minutes until midnight, when it would be March 1, and the princess' 54th birthday.
"O God, protect her with your eyes that do not sleep," al-Sharif wrote on her private Facebook page, adding a photo of her mother, and rows of heart-shaped emojis.
As they sat, the elevator doors inside their penthouse slid open, and out stepped a group of eight men. The time stamp on the internal security tape read 11:41 p.m....
...Basmah and her daughter have not been seen in public since.
"She was told there was a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed," a close family member of Basmah told Insider. Instead, "they took her straight to the prison."...
...That prison is al-Ha'ir, a maximum-security facility 25 miles south of Riyadh famous for housing ISIS and al-Qaeda insurgents.
It's a place that many members of the Saudi royal family likely know well....
...By this time Basmah was back living in Saudi Arabia full time for the first time in decades. The move home was prompted by the arrest of her son and death of her husband.
Saud, the son, was among scores of royals detained and accused of corruption in one of Crown Prince Mohammed's purges in 2017.
"They didn't find anything against him, so they let him out, but it took a while," a business associate of the princess told Insider. The associate asked to remain anonymous, but their identity is known to Insider....
...Her attempts to access her inheritance is the real reason why she was locked away, her family member and the associate said, and not an attempt to flee the country or secure a fake passport....
Princess Basmah bint Saud bin Abdulaziz al Saud is the youngest daughter of King Saud who reigned over Saudi Arabia from 1953-64. She spent the first twenty years of her life studying and travelling the world. She came to the UK with her mother when civil war broke out in Lebanon in 1976 and completed her studies. In 1983 she and her mother moved to Syria where she studied medicine, psychology and English literature at the Beirut Arab University.
She commenced her career in media and journalism in 2006 when she started writing articles for several newspapers including Al-Madina, Al-Hayat, Al-Ahram Al-Masri and the magazine Al-Sayadity. She also featured in articles for international outlets such as the Independent, Berfabl, Argeninin, Yo Donna magazine, Vanity Fair and the Huffington Post. Her articles have focused on local and Arab social affairs. She is very much interested in the concerns of citizens, social problems and developed ideas to solve these issues within her articles....
