RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia has arrested dozens of princes and former government ministers, including a billionaire with extensive holdings in Western companies, as part of a sweeping anti-corruption probe.
On Sunday, Saudi officials cast the arrests as the first shot in a battle against the country's notorious and deeply rooted corruption, and part of a broader effort by the country's young and ambitious crown prince to refresh the stagnating Saudi state. But critics see the move as an attempt by the 32-year-old crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, to cement his power in the kingdom.
Among those taken into custody overnight Saturday were billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who is one of the world's richest men and has extensive holdings in Western companies, as well as two of the late King Abdullah's sons.
It is not clear what Prince Alwaleed or the others were being investigated for.
The arrest of senior princes upends a longstanding tradition among the ruling Al Saud family to keep their disagreements private in an effort to show strength and unity in the face of Saudi Arabia's many tribes and factions. It also sends a message that the crown prince has the full backing of his father, King Salman, to carry out sweeping anti-corruption measures targeting senior royals and their business associates, who have long been seen as operating above the law.
Reports suggested that those detained were being held at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, which only days earlier hosted a major investment conference that the crown prince attended with global business titans.
A Saudi official said other five-star hotels across the capital were also being used to hold some of those arrested.
The Ritz-Carlton had no availability for bookings until Dec. 1 -- a possible sign that an investigation of this scale could take weeks. Marriott International said in a statement that it is currently evaluating the situation at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, but it declined to comment further, citing privacy concerns.
A Saudi government official with close ties to security forces said 11 princes and 38 others were being questioned. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
It's unclear if the U.S. had any advance word of the arrests. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner and others made an unannounced trip recently to Riyadh. Earlier on Saturday, Trump said he spoke to King Salman, though the White House readout of that call did not include any reference to the impending arrests.
The kingdom's top council of clerics issued a public statement on Sunday saying it is an Islamic duty to fight corruption -- essentially giving religious backing to the high-level arrests.
The surprise arrests were immediately hailed by pro-government media outlets as the clearest sign yet that Crown Prince Mohammed is keeping his promise to change the country, wean its economy from its dependence on oil and liberalize some aspects of the ultraconservative society.
For others, though, the detentions seemed more like the continuation of a process that had been accelerating over the past two years: the consolidation of power by the crown prince before his father dies or abdicates the throne.
That process -- which included eliminating critics and rivals, but also elite figures who presided over independent power centers -- amounted to a radical restructuring of the Saudi order, analysts said.
"Mohammed bin Salman wants to destroy the game of checks and balances," said Stephane Lacroix, a professor of political science at Sciences Po in Paris and the author of Awakening Islam: The Politics of Religious Dissent in Contemporary Saudi Arabia.
The goal was "autocratic monarchy," Lacroix said. "No fiefdoms that could counter his decisions."
Public reaction was initially positive.
Many shared a clip from a television interview earlier this year in which the crown prince said nobody was above the law. On Sunday, trending Saudi hashtags on Twitter, a key barometer in a country where polls are banned, included one celebrating the purge as the "November 4 Revolution."
"What happened yesterday made us proud as Saudi citizens," said Fatimah Al-Qhtani, a resident of the eastern city of Khobar. "Our leadership has ensured that we are equal, that corruption has no place among us and that we are all accountable for what we do."
Conversations with seven other Saudis, who asked not to be named, showed a more mixed reaction. Some viewed the announcement as a sign that the powerful could be held accountable even as it smacked of a power grab; others saw it as a pure political play.
The Saudi government said the arrests are part of a wider effort to increase transparency, accountability and good governance -- key changes needed to attract greater international investment and appease a Saudi public that has for decades complained of rampant government corruption and misuse of public funds by top officials. Surprise moves reshaping the kingdom, however, are likely to worry investors.
Among those reportedly taken into custody were two sons of the late King Abdullah: Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, who Saturday evening was ousted from his post as head of the prestigious National Guard tasked with protecting the Al Saud family, and Prince Turki bin Abdullah, who was once governor of Riyadh.
Prince Miteb was once considered a contender for the throne, though he has not been thought of recently as a challenger to Crown Prince Mohammed.
Saudi Twitter accounts released several other names of those arrested, including Alwalid al-Ibrahim, a Saudi businessman with ties to the royal family who runs the Arabic satellite group MBC; Amr al-Dabbagh, the former head of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority; Ibrahim Assaf, a former finance minister; and Bakr Binladin, head of the Saudi Binladin Group, a major business conglomerate.
REMOVING RIVALS
Analysts have suggested the arrest of once-untouchable members of the royal family is a clear sign that the crown prince is sidelining potential rivals for the throne.
The young Crown Prince Mohammed has risen from near obscurity to become Saudi Arabia's most talked about and powerful prince in less than three years since his father ascended to the throne. The crown prince's swift rise to power has unnerved more experienced, elder members of the royal family, which has long ruled by consensus, though ultimate decision-making remains with the monarch.
Without naming those arrested, the attorney general's office said "the suspects are being granted the same rights and treatment as any other Saudi citizen." The statement did not disclose specific details about the investigation, but it stressed that no assets have yet been frozen and that individuals are presumed innocent until proved guilty.
A high-level employee at Prince Alwaleed's Kingdom Holding Co. said the royal was among those detained. The senior employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of repercussions, said security bodies informed him of the arrest.
Prince Alwaleed's many investments include Twitter, Apple, Citigroup, and the Four Seasons hotel chain. He is also an investor in ride-sharing services Lyft and Careem. He was once a significant shareholder in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. but sold much of those shares in 2015.
The prince, pictured sometimes on his 278-foot super-yacht in the Mediterranean, is among the most outspoken Saudi royals and a longtime advocate of women's rights. He is also majority owner of the popular Rotana Group of Arabic channels.
After word of his arrest, his company's stock dropped 7.6 percent in trading Sunday on the Saudi stock exchange.
An earlier crackdown this year on perceived critics of the crown prince included clerics and lesser-known princes.
In July, Crown Prince Mohammed's most formidable challenger to the throne, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, was plucked from the line of succession and ousted from his post as interior minister, overseeing internal security. This laid the groundwork for the king's son to claim the mantle of crown prince.
Information for this article was contributed by Abdullah Al-Shihri, Aya Batrawy, Jon Gambrell, Fay Abuelgasim Jonathan Lemire and Maggie Michael of The Associated Press; by Vivian Nereim, Alaa Shahine, Sarah Algethami, Ahmed Feteha and Glen Carey of Bloomberg News; and by Kareem Fahim of The Washington Post.
A Section on 11/06/2017