Saudi Arabia commandeered the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh to use as a prison as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman moved against powerful senior princes and government leaders over the weekend.
Here's the 'prison' where the Saudi royals et al are being held in MBS' 'corruption crackdown'. The Ritz Carlton in Riyadh. pic.twitter.com/1WnsXbXe7O
— Rori Donaghy (@roridonaghy) November 5, 2017
All guests on property were unilaterally kicked out, reservations dishonored.
🔴عاجل
إخلاء فندق الريتز كارلتون بالرياض بالكامل واخراج كافةالنزلاء
لايقاف المطلوبين فيه واقامتهم اقامه جبريه لحين الانتهاء من قضيتهم pic.twitter.com/y8GML1Vplf— خبر عاجل (@AJel_NEWS_24) November 4, 2017
Now here are photos from inside the Ritz-Carlton prison. (HT: @FakeMickHubert)
These photos confirm our original report, that the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh has indeed become a prison after MBS's purge https://t.co/VpceqWfk6t pic.twitter.com/merF5WRL0I
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) November 6, 2017
After this all began over the weekend the hotel was showing check-ins permitted December 1. At this point they have pushed that back to December 16.
I will continue monitoring the Ritz-Carlton website as a primary source for developing news about the Saudi regime as this story continues.
This article seems to do a good job explaining why these high profile Saudi prisoners are at the Ritz Carlton and not in a prison.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/06/how-saudi-elite-became-five-star-prisoners-at-the-riyadh-ritz-carlton
HAHAHA Hat tip to Fake Mick Hubert. The voice of my Florida Gators! (Even though we stink right now).
Thanks, IAHPHX. This is a bigger deal that most of us in the US aren’t paying much attention to. Just a short time ago the world’s shakers and movers in business, technology, finance, and industry had a summit meeting in Saudi Arabia, at the request of Prince MBS. Now, the public selling of Aramco stock. Women being granted the right to drive.
Saudi Arabia is a country the size of Mexico. I am guessing that Prince MBS–at the ripe young age of 32–is planning to bring Saudi Arabia into the 21st century, and at a rapid pace. He can’t do that with the present top “corrupt” princes and clerics, who are blocking the way of progress. So, Prince MBS has found a creative way to proceed with his visions.
My hunch is that Prince MBS is hellbent on paving the path for SA to become THE flagship leader of the ME, putting the tiny UAE states to shame. Time will tell.
I do hope they have Ritz Club access.
I really hope no one kills him, but judging from the history of the Arabs, the courageous, forward looking ones (e.g. Sadat) don’t live very long.
@JoeBlow Johnson – But you’re not doing as bad as my Seminoles. They’ve lost how many games to unranked teams? Not our years for sure.
@ KimmieA — I hope you are right. Trump just tweeted his unconditional support for the Crown Prince (a risky move from my perspective), so now the USA had better hope it goes well for him!