[Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a Fox News interview with Bret Baier in NEOM. (X/@Bandaralgaloud)]
The NEOM City: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Thursday confirmed the death penalty given to a Saudi citizen for posting on social media platform X and his online activities, but termed it shameful.
“Shamelessly it’s true”, the powerful Crown Prince, who is also Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, told Bret Baier of US TV network Fox News who wanted to confirm the report that surfaced in the media last month.
“Shamelessly it’s true. But that is something I don't like”, Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MbS, said.
Bret Baier was specifically referring to the news published by Associated Press on August 30, 2023 that while reporting about the judgement against Makkah resident Mohammed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi highlighted it to be “the latest case in wide-ranging crackdown on dissent in the Kingdom”.
The Associated Press had opined that “the sentences appear part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s wider effort to stamp out any defiance in the kingdom" clubbing together the cases of a doctoral student, Salma al-Shehab, and others facing decades long prison sentences by Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court over their comments online. When asked can't he change that, the Saudi Crown Prince replied:
“We are doing our best to do that. We have already added few laws. We changed tens of laws in Saudi Arabia. (But) there is a huge list having more than 1000 items and in the cabinet we have only 150 lawyers”, he said. “I am trying to priorities the change day by day”, he added.
“We are doing our best to do that. We have already added few laws. We changed tens of laws in Saudi Arabia. (But) there is a huge list having more than 1000 items and in the cabinet we have only 150 lawyers”, he said.
“I am trying to priorities the change day by day”, he added.
“But we are not happy with that. We are ashamed of that", Mohammed bin Salman said about the death sentences.
He however defended the Saudi Judicial System that he said works on the rule of land.
“The Judicial System has to follow the laws and I cannot tell the judge that do that and ignore the law because that's against the rule of law”, he said.
He also said that the Kingdom have some laws that are bad but efforts are on to change them. When asked if the Makkah resident will really be killed for his post, Mohammed bin Salman replied:
“There are a number of steps in trial. And, I am hoping that at the next phase of the trials the judges there will be more experienced and they might look at it totally different”, he said.
In more than an hour long interview with Fox News, Mohammed bin Salman also discussed in much details various topics and issues including the issue of Palestine, Saudi-Israel, Saudi-Iran and Saudi-U.S. ties, and also about his “interesting relationship with US President Joe Biden”.
In his latest interview, a first in The NEOM City, Mohammed bin Salman also talked about his Vision 2030, Saudi economy, oil supply, the Kingdom’s GDP, BRICS, and the inter-continental railway project announced at G20 Summit in New Delhi.
Full interview Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman part 1#SaudiArabia #America pic.twitter.com/x55zXMm4Ah— CBKNEWS (@CBKNEWS121) September 20, 2023
Full interview Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman part 1#SaudiArabia #America pic.twitter.com/x55zXMm4Ah
Talking specifically about Iran’s nuclear program, Mohammed bin Salman warned about nuclear weapons and the threats they pose to world peace, but said if Iran has a nuclear bomb then Saudi too should have one.
During the interview, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom the Fox New anchor described as a “visionary leader”, also talked about China, his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russia, Russian war with Ukraine and his interaction with President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy.
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