Saudi princes and billionaire businessmen rounded up earlier this by the new crown prince are allegedly beaten by American private security contractors and hung upside down “just to send a message”.
A group of Saudi Arabia’s most powerful figures were arrested in a crackdown ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman three weeks ago over allegations of corruption.
It is believed that more than $194 billion from bank accounts and seized assets of those detained have been confiscated.
Just last month, the Crown Prince vowed to restore “moderate, open Islam” in the kingdom and relaxed a number of its ultra-conservative rules, including lifting a ban on women driving
The arrests have been followed by “interrogations” which a source reportedly told DailyMail.com were being carried out by “American mercenaries” brought in to work for the 32-year-old crown prince, who is now the kingdom’s most powerful figure.
“They are beating them, torturing them, slapping them, insulting them. They want to break them down,” the source was quoted as saying to the UK news portal.
The detainees are believed to be kept in luxury hotels, including the Ritz Carlton hotel in Riyadh.
“All the guards in charge are private security because MBS (Mohammed Bin Salman) doesn’t want Saudi officers there who have been saluting those detainees all their lives.
“Outside the hotels where they are being detained, you see the armoured vehicles of the Saudi special forces. But inside, it’s a private security company,” the source, who asked to remain anonymous, reportedly said.
After the arrests, a picture was given to DailyMail.com of the Saudi royals sleeping on thin mattresses in the ballroom of the five star Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh.
Apparently, the crown prince conducts some of the interrogations himself.
“When it’s something big he asks them questions,” the source was quoted as saying.
“He speaks to them very nicely in the interrogation, and then he leaves the room, and the mercenaries go in. The prisoners are slapped, insulted, hung up, tortured.”
Among those arrested on allegations of corruption is Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, the Saudi King’s nephew who is worth more than $17bn according to Forbes, and owns stakes in Twitter, Lyft and Citigroup.
DailyMail.com’s source claimed the crown prince lulled Alwaleed into a false sense of security, inviting him to a meeting at his Al Yamamah palace, then sent officers to arrest him the night before the meeting.
“Suddenly at 2.45am, all his guards were disarmed, the royal guards of MBS stormed in.
“He’s dragged from his own bedroom in his pajamas, handcuffed, put in the back of an SUV, and interrogated like a criminal.
“They hung them upside down, just to send a message.
“They told them that ‘we’ve made your charges public, the world knows that you’ve been arrested on these charges’,” the source reportedly said.