The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh, where hundreds of rich and once-powerful Saudis were detained in what the government called an anti-corruption campaign, has been a hotel again for four months. Its legacy as a jail, though, runs deep in the new Saudi Arabia.
Billionaires, royals and bureaucrats remain locked up, including Prince Turki bin Abdullah and former Economy Minister Adel Fakeih, a key architect of the kingdom’s transformation plan, according to associates. Some are now in the Al-Ha’er prison, a maximum-security facility south of the capital where many Islamic militants are incarcerated.
Those released had to promise to pay huge settlements, while some were banned from travel or required to wear ankle bracelets to monitor their whereabouts, according to their associates. The fate of those still being held is unknown, including the former head of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, Amr Al-Dabbagh, and Ethiopian-born Saudi billionaire Mohammed Al Amoudi.
The arrests have created a climate of fear, obscuring the daily reports of change that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is ushering in as a young reformer for a new era. Cinemas are open, genders mix more freely and women will be allowed to drive starting this month, but there’s an increasingly authoritarian side to his leadership.
The enthusiasm that existed when he unveiled his sweeping changes to Saudi society two years ago in “Vision 2030” has been slowly replaced with wariness about staying on-message, according to conversations with more than a dozen businessmen, government officials, activists and diplomats, all of whom asked not to be named for fear of retribution.
Some Saudis put phones in separate rooms or in plastic containers, worried their microphones are being remotely accessed. Most are reluctant to talk politics in public. A Saudi businessman recently asked a guest in his own sitting room to lower his voice as he discussed the kingdom’s anti-corruption campaign with friends.
Authorities detained some of the country’s most prominent women’s rights activists last month, accusing them of links to “hostile organizations” and with providing moral and financial support to “elements hostile toward the kingdom.”
“The crown prince’s version of one-man rule leaves no space for dissent or for anyone taking credit for achievements or change,” said James M. Dorsey, a Middle East specialist at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
The 32-year-old prince toured the U.S. for three weeks in March, pitching his image and Saudi Arabia to senior U.S. businessmen. He is collaborating with Softbank Group Corp.’s Masayoshi Son on a $500 billion ultra-modern city in the desert. These are signs to international businessmen and bankers that real change is afoot.
At home, Prince Mohammed has replaced one style of authoritarian rule, where top royals ran ministries with little interference, to one with a single leader controlling all levers of power, and it’s worrying some.