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Template:Saudibox end Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz (Arabic: الأمير نايف بن عبد العزيز آل سعود) is one of the six surviving members of the Sudairi Seven, all sons of King Ibn Saud and Hassa bint Ahmad Al Sudairi. Born in the city of Taif in 1933, Prince Nayef has held the following government positions:
- Governor of Riyadh, 1953-1954
- Deputy Minister of the Interior 1970
- Minister of State for Internal Affairs, 1970 and President, Supreme Council for Information;
- Minister of the Interior since 1975.
Early on in his career, Nayef developed a reputation of loyalty to his brothers, of relative personal & professional austerity in juxtaposition to the image of waste & questionable morality within the Al Saud, and professional competence, albeit with an air of unimmaginative leadership relying heavily on the innovativeness of his Deputy, Prince Ahmed, but more importantly,on the support of his oldest full brother, Prince, and later, King Fahd.
Prince Nayef's career has had intricate links with that of King Fahd who was his predecessor, and mentor, as Minister of Interior. Trusting Nayef implicitly, Fahd's support consolidated the formidable power of the Ministry and bolstered Nayef into among the most powerful of the Al Sauds. Periods of discord among the Sudairi Seven, especially between King Fahd & Prince Sultan were balanced by Nayef's ability to counter the backroom political skills of Sultan. Leaving fellow Sudairi, and Riyadh Governor, Prince Salman the job of clearing the rubble of the Fahd-Sultan battles, Nayef would assume the leadership mantle on their behalf, giving the appearance to ousiders of their unity and power, while issues were ironed out between his warring older siblings. Fahd's stroke in 1995, and his death in 2005, diluted much of Nayef's political strength within the Al Saud and though he has committed his resources in supporting older brother, the influential Vice Minister of Defence, Prince Abd al-Rahman, he has done so at his own expense as is seen by his inability to being named Saudi Arabia's Second Deputy Prime Minister.
The death of King Fahd on August 1, 2005, and ascension of King Abdullah to the throne made Prince Nayef, technically, the third most powerful man in Saudi Arabia, though he remains, at best, fifth in the Saudi line of succession. He is more active in the government than the nominally senior surviving member of the Sudairi Seven, the elderly and ailing Crown Prince Sultan, though he has delegated much of the day-to-day responsibilities of the Interior Ministry to his brother, Deputy Minister Prince Ahmed and to his son, Assistant Minister for Security Affairs Prince Mohammed bin Nayef.
Saudi Arabia's Powerful Ministry of Interior
The Ministry of the Interior oversees the provincial governates, public security & law enforcement, the coast guards, civil defence, fire prevention services, border police, special security, domestic intelligence (Mabahith al-'Amma), special investigative functions, including criminal investigation and is responsible for liaising with the Mutawa in the kingdom.
Nayef ascended to high this high position in the Saudi government only because he was a Sudeiri seven. His ascension had nothing to do with competency or capabilities, in fact, most of his life he spent it in the shadows of his brothers which turned him into a virtual monster. This monstrosity has manifested itself very well in his job in the form of tools of torture and human rights abuses. This is seen when in 1995, Prince Nayef and his office were accused of killing political activist, Abdullah Abdel Rahman al-Hadhif, while trying to torture a confession out of him. They then allegedly tried to cover it up by accusing him of trying to kill a police officer . Nayef's abuse is not limited to political prisoners. In 1995, an Egyptian doctor, spent several months in jail and was convicted of defaming a Saudi school principal because that principal sexually abused his underage young daughter. His punishment: 80 lashes in a public square. His daughter gets abused sexually and when he complains, he gets a public scolding. This is the new Saudi Arabia in the image of those who run it, the Sudeiri Seven. Also in that same year, Abdul al-Aziz Muhammad Isse, from Somalia, was scheduled to be beheaded for murders that happened before he arrived in Saudi Arabia.
Former U. S. diplomats describe the Interior minister, as the most feared official in the Saudi government. They describe his police agency as one of the world's most ruthless. He is in charge of keeping and controlling access to the government's most intimate secrets. An example of this is that in reply to a question about charges against the royal family of corruption, decadence, and abuse of power, the prince responded, "These shortcomings and mistakes can happen in any society. We are trying to solve our mistakes. I would say that nobody is one hundred percent perfect." He is not so tolerant of the shortcomings of those outside his family.
As the Interior Minister, Prince Nayef is also the Supervisor General of the Saudi Committee for the Al Quds Intifada, which supports and compensates the families of the Palestinean Intifada including those of suicide bombers. These compensations have become controversial though they have been recognized as an essential part of Islamic tradition which requires Muslims to care for families who have endured loss. His monetary contributions have been viewed, mostly by non-Muslims, as possible incentives to carry out such bombings. It is believed that Prince Nayef has personally contributed at least $33 million to Intifada families
The critical nature of Prince Nayef's position appears to have made himself irremovable. He is in a position to remind brothers, Crown Prince Sultan and King Abdullah, that regardless of who makes the public statements, it is he who maintains the stability of the kingdom, and his Ministry, which he controls with an iron hand, that keeps the Al Saud in power. It was Nayef, and not foreign minister Saud al Faisal, who went to Iran for a ground breaking meeting to renew relations with the regime in April 2001. Similarly, it is the job of the information minister to control the content of all media in the Kingdom. Since 1995, the position has been held by Dr. Fouad bin Abdul Salaam bin Muhammad Al Farsi--but Prince Nayef heads the Supreme Council on Information, which oversees the processing of information including controls on the World Wide Web.
Following the revelation that a member of the royal family had indirectly, and inadvertently, funded a 9/11 hijacker, Prince Nayef, albeit briefly, resurrected the view that Mossad was behind the attacks. An article in the English edition of the Saudi newsweekly Ain Al-Yaqeen of 29 November, 2002, states:
Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz publicly stated that he suspected that the terrorist organizations had relationships with foreign intelligence services that worked against Arab and Muslims, and were led by Israeli intelligence, with the ultimate goal of embarrassing, and accusing, the religion and its adherents, thereby hurting the Palestinian issue and the Islamic Ummah.
The Al Saud backed away from this stand shortly thereafter, primarily through their continued active support against international terrorism.
Nayef implemented the Al Saud decision to begin issuing women with identity cards in November 2001. The Directorate of Civil Status issued the first identity cards to women on 3 November, thus making it much easier for women to carry out transactions - financial, legal and social - and is therefore considered a highly significant move. Previously women were registered on their husband's or father's identity cards.
Family life
Prince Nayef is married to Maha al-Sudeiri, a distant cousin whose ventures and adventures have echoed around the world. First it started at the Swan Hotel in Walt Disney in Orlando, Florida when she beat with her bare hands a maid servant she accused of stealing $200,000 worth of jewelry.
When the police interfered, she tried to bribe one of the policeman. The police report did not mention the last incident after the Saudi Embassy in Washington D.C. dispatched an army of diplomats to control the situation. Maha apparently also beat the maid who was dating him just because she was dating him.
In April 1996, Maha Sudeiri called the reservation system at the Marriott Hotel in Riyadh where she asked to reserve immediately seven villas for her guests. The reservation manager confirmed two reservations and told her politely that the other villas were occupied with guests at the present time.
Screaming and threatening on the phone, she demanded all seven villas.The manager stumbled and fumbled but refused to throw his guests out. Half an hour after she hang up the phone, she showed up at the hotel demanding the reservation manager. When he presented himself, she asked to see one of the villas. Upon arrival at the villa, she asked her security people to lock him there. The poor man was left locked for 3 days and had not been of the interference of the Marriott operations, he would have stayed much longer.
External links
- "The Saudi Paradox" - Foreign Affairs article on then-Crown Prince Abdullah and Prince Nayef
- Ministry of interior of Saudi Arabia