Keeping a princess under lock and key is catching on the Arab world.
First, Dubai’s brutal ruler held his two daughters captive — and now the youngest daughter of Saudi Arabia’s second ruler King Abdulaziz is begging for her freedom on Twitter.
Princess Basmah bint Saud bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, 56, is a human rights advocate who has been critical of the Saudi Arabia’s war with Yemen — spearheaded by her cousin and the country’s heir apparent, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The royal tweeted that she is being imprisoned with one of her daughters in the secretive kingdom.
In a tweet storm that has been deleted, Princess Basmah claimed to have been abducted with her daughter “without explanation and held in Al-Hair Prison — a maximum-security facility south of capital Riyadh — without criminal charges,” the New Arab reported.
“My health is deteriorating to an extent that is serve [sic], and that could lead to my death… I have not received medical care or even response to the letters I dispatched from jail to the Royal Court,” the princess tweeted, according to the media outlet.
The two women were detained a year ago in March as they tried to leave Saudi Arabia for Switzerland, according to the Guardian.
“She claimed then to be in urgent need of medical treatment. However her private jet was not allowed to depart. Relatives had since had fleeting conversations with the 52-year-old, with one claiming on Thursday that she had been guarded and appeared to be speaking under duress,” the newspaper reported.
The princess had garnered unwanted attention from bin Salman after calling for a constitutional monarchy like Britain. Saudi Arabia has an absolute monarchy.
“No one is off limits to the crown prince,” Rothna Begum, of Human Rights Watch, told the Guardian. “He really is after everyone and women have borne the brunt of this.”
Over the past two years, the prince has imprisoned relatives and others whom he claims are plotting against him. Two months ago, he locked up his uncle, Mohammed Bin Nayef, and Ahmad bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, the last remaining full brother of King Salman.