THE sensational murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, has raised question about the political career of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is considered as most powerful man in the Kingdom. Specially, a phone call recording recently circulated to different agencies has directly linked the murder of Khashoggi to the Prince Salman. This phone call is now treated as strongest evidence by the investigators. After the murder, a member of the 15-man assailant team made a phone call to a superior and said “tell your boss” the murder mission had been completed. It was made by Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb in Arabic.
The phone call did not mention the Prince by name, but the US, Turkish, Canadian and other intelligence agencies believe “your boss” was a reference to Prince Salman. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had shared the audio with Saudi Arabia, the UK, the US, Germany and France. US President Donald Trump has said he is “not satisfied” with the Saudi account. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed that officials of his government had listened to audio recordings. UK Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt said he would demand answers about Khashoggi’s murder. The Saudi government, however, has repeatedly denied that the Crown Prince had any knowledge of the murder.
For decades, Khashoggi was close to the Saudi royal family and also served as an adviser to the government. But he fell out of favour and went into self-imposed exile in the US last year. From there, he wrote a monthly column in the Washington Post in which he criticised the policies of the Crown Prince.
What significant is that, the Crown Prince is already facing challenges even inside the royal family following the murder. Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, a powerful brother of King Salman, has returned to Riyadh for “crisis” talks with the royal family. Besides, Prince Khaled bin Talal, a nephew of King Salman, has been released after almost a year in detention. This development has pointed finger towards the Kingdom’s troubled succession.
May be he won’t be overthrown despite of severe pressure by different Muslim and Western countries; but there is no doubt that Crown Prince Salman’s supremacy would be curtailed.
