Most Saudi royals support King Salman’s removal: Prince

Most of the members of the Saudi royal family back a move to oust King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and replace him with his younger brother, a dissident prince says.

Eight of the 12 surviving sons of the founder of Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, support the measure to remove King Salman, 79, the country’s ailing ruler, and replace him with his 73-year-old brother, Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, The Independent quoted an unnamed grandson of Ibn Saud as saying on Friday.

The prince also said that a majority of the country’s powerful clerics, known as the Ulama, would support a coup to oust the current ruler and install Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, a former interior minister, in his place.

“The Ulama and religious people prefer Prince Ahmed – not all of them, but 75 percent,” he said.

According to the dissident prince, King Salman, who is reportedly suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, will only have two choices for his future.

“Either the king will leave Saudi Arabia… and he will be very respected inside and outside the country,” he said, adding, “Alternatively, Prince Ahmed will become crown prince, but with control of and responsibility for the whole country – the economy, oil, armed forces, national guard, interior ministry, secret  service, in fact everything from A to Z.”

Salman was crowned as the king of Saudi Arabia on January 23, 2015, following the death of his half brother, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, at the age of 90.

There has been mounting discontent at the Saudi king's decisions, including his controversial appointments, the brutal and costly war against Yemen and the recent Mina crush, in which 464 Iranians were killed during the annual Muslim pilgrimage of Hajj.

The king appointed his son, Mohammed bin Salman, 30, as deputy crown prince and defense minister in April, which enabled him to launch the war against Yemen, where at least 7,000 people have died and nearly 14,000 others have been injured in the Saudi aggression since late March.

The September 24 crush near the holy Saudi city of Mecca happened after two large masses of pilgrims converged at a crossroads in Mina during the symbolic ceremony of the stoning of Satan in Jamarat. The latest Associated Press tally based on state media reports and official comments from 30 countries shows that 2,177 were killed in the tragic incident. Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization, however, says at least 4,700 people lost their lives in the tragedy.

Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund warned that Riyadh may run out of economic assets within five years due to a mixture of low oil prices and the economic impact of regional wars, unless it greatly cuts its spending.

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