As the youngest daughter of the late King Saud, Basma had never wielded significant influence, but had enjoyed a successful career in business with her company Inseed, and had made a name for herself as a writer and thinker with her book, The Fourth Way Law, which proposed a new system of governing. Now 57, Basma was also known for speaking out on the subject of women's rights, being especially critical of the Kingdom's system of guardianship, which severely restricts movement and opportunities for women. Despite the apparent assumption that her family connections would provide cover for this public advocacy, the attention it brought did cause friction with the more senior royals.
Basma then went missing, along with her adult daughter Suhud al-Sharif, in March 2019. It later emerged that they had been taken into custody at the airport, accused of trying to flee the country and forging a passport, with additional charges laid on for Suhud, who was accused of assaulting an agent and of an unspecified cybercrime. They were in fact en route to Europe for medical treatment (Basma suffers from health problems including osteoporosis), yet ended up in a wing of al-Ha'ir maximum security prison in Riyadh, held without trial. Some news seeped out - in the spring of 2020, Basmah said via her social media channels that she had now been detained in the capital for more than a year and was sick. There were further messages sent from her Twitter account in April 2020 pleading to be released, but these were all quickly deleted. She was allowed to make a brief phone call to a relative in May 2021, during which she discussed arrangements for her will "in case anything happened to her". In a petition submitted to the United Nations in March, 2020, her family suggested the reason for her detention might be her role "as an outspoken critic of abuses in our country of birth, but likewise for..enquiring about the frozen fortune left (by) her father". Indeed, there had been ongoing talk of some relatives trying to shut her out of proceeds stemming from an inheritance left her by Saud, which backroom campaign may have piled pressure on the mounting demands for Basma to be held accountable for her advocacy, embarrassing as that was turning out to be for the senior leadership.
She was eventually set free on January 6, 2022, though without official comment or any sort of explanation for the ordeal. "The two ladies were released from their arbitrary imprisonment, and arrived at their home in Jiddah on Thursday 6th January, 2022," her legal advisor Henri Estramant said. "The princess is doing fine but will be seeking medical expertise," he added. "She seems worn out but is in good spirits, and thankful to reunite with her sons in person." Basma is nonetheless subject to a travel ban, prevented from leaving the country.
Leaving aside the question of an inheritance dispute (which seems unlikely to have been the sole reason for her detention, though plotting relatives may have contributed to the behind-the-scenes push for action), her arrest fits a pattern of sudden and severe crackdown on any royal audacious enough to even implicitly criticize official government policy and direction. For private citizens, the risk is known - the arrest of activists such as Lujayn al-Hathlul, who pushed for the right for women to drive (despite that very thing being officially given the green light), is unsurprising, since
the crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman (popularly known as MbS) recoils at being seen as making concessions under political pressure, and prefers any reforms to be seen as a gift from the Kingdom's leadership, rather than as a case of the royals bowing to citizen demands. For members of the royal family, however, it is more arbitrary. The arrest (and alleged torture) of hundreds of influential figures, including dozens of princes, some holding senior status and position, in November 2017 was a seismic shock to the system.
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War, Peace and Politics - The Royal Family and Palestine (Part II)
After the death of the first Saudi king, Abd al-Aziz, his son Saud took the throne. Despite taking the Palestinian issue to heart, the new monarch was unable to ever fully comprehend the depth of American support for Israel. In the end, Saud's weak leadership, disinterest, and lack of regional clout frustrated his scattered and unfocused efforts at resolution. |
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War, Peace and Politics - The Royal Family and Palestine (Part I)
The October 7 surprise attack on Israel by Hamas, and the resulting war this precipitated, has exposed the shortcomings of the Abraham Accords. Further, the lack of available arrows in the Saudi diplomatic quiver highlights the failure of decades-long efforts to reach a meaningful consensus on the issue of Palestinian statehood. Yet, starting with the reign of the Kingdom's founder, Abd al-Aziz, solidarity with Palestine and opposition to the Zionist project has been a core tenet of the royal identity. |
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Stage Management: Spectacles, Sidelining And Dissent
Even as the Kingdom takes steps towards cultural liberalization, an intense crackdown on activists and political dissidents continues unabated. Can the attempt to change its international image be reconciled with the extraordinary sentences being handed down by the courts? |
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A Royal in Morocco: The Strange Case of Princess Fahda al-Hithlayn
News of the lavish Moroccan holiday of Fahda, the wife of Saudi King Salman, seems to fly in the face of widespread reports of her supposed captivity on the orders of her own son, the crown prince. Was the sensational allegation by foreign intelligence agencies flawed, or has a family reconciliation taken place? |
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Reform, Crackdown and Succession: Continuity or Disruption?
As the crown prince and de facto regent Muhammad bin Salman presses ahead with an ambitious program of social and structural reforms, it is often assumed that he is pursuing a radically vision than that preferred by his more conservative father, King Salman. A closer look, however, reveals that the two are in fact closely aligned. |