King Salman ... open your doors further and use righteous aides

FOR the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to announce transparently about the mysterious killing of Jamal Khashoggi and for it to issue a royal decree to relieve a group of intelligence and security officials of their duties, this in itself is a reaffirmation of the fact that no one is above the law under the reign of King Salman.

Undoubtedly, the King is following in the footsteps of his predecessors since the founding father of the Kingdom Abdulaziz bin Saud on the basis that the rule is characterized with sincerity in dealing with even the most difficult circumstances. No official should deviate from prevailing laws and principles of the country.

Basically, it is not the custom of the Kingdom to resort to assassination of those who are against its policies among its citizens. There are others more than Khashoggi who criticize these policies and have not been harmed in any way.

On the contrary, they are still enjoying their full citizenship rights despite their use of controversial foreign platform to damage the reverence of their countries and there is no precedent of killing or assassination on any one of them.

Indeed, there is a purge on some of the royal members but their case is special. They were subjected to the prosecution and then they are left to go on with their lives without any inconvenience.

This is due to the fact that they acted based on their personal motives and strived to blackmail the monarch for their personal agendas which are very far from the characteristics of the royal family, whereas none of them was

harmed or killed.

The statement issued by Saudi’s attorney general bears many clarifications which refuted everything publicized in the past two weeks despite the delay.

Nonetheless, it is better late than never. The most important thing is to identify those who neglected their duties and hold them accountable for their action or cover up which the law does not permit. It is an audacious move to issue a sincere acknowledgement, something which no other leader in the world would have done.

The international community has been waiting for the clear and transparent statement. This community has realized that the Kingdom has its own legal standards which apply on everyone irrespective of their titles.

However, when it comes to its adversaries – the ones who are ready to drum up against the Kingdom in any given opportunity – they are the type of people who will never admit the sunrise even if its rays keep on burning their skin.

Without a doubt, their objective is not to reveal the truth. Instead, it is their bid to take revenge due to the openness and modernity introduced during the reign of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

We, in the region, noticed the start of a fierce campaign of defamation and tarnishing the image of the Kingdom since King Salman’s ascension to the throne; and the Crown Prince’s declaration of the new strategy which the Kingdom will walk on in the future, especially in the aspect of social openness and dignified life of Saudi nationals in a manner that corresponds with the modern era.

The campaign used the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ to destabilize the Kingdom and other Gulf countries. Unfortunately, there are a few members of the region who are fascinated with any new hoot in this regard without bearing in mind its repercussions.

Such hoots are more detrimental if they come from an organization with international branches which make people hate their countries and regimes.

One thing that troubled this organization, I mean the ‘Brotherhood,’ was the start of accountability and fight against corruption in the Kingdom. This is in addition to closure of all the taps where they used to benefit from financially – whether through the princes, businesspersons or those who depend on the same organization in creating a network of their corruption and financing their plans.

Since then, the defamation and lies campaign have intensified, as well as the conspiracy, because these people insinuated in the past about the channels of corruption yet they benefit from such channels.

This continued until the first decisive strike which broke their backs from the top of the realm. Despite their small number in the Kingdom, their voices were loud; thanks to their foreign links with the ‘Brotherhood’ global group headquartered in Turkey, in addition to its tentacles in some Gulf countries and alliances with the regime in Iran.

We all know the plans which the Mullah regime has laid down for the Kingdom and other Gulf countries. Therefore, these people are working based on the common principle: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Unmistakably, this organization has Western connections. The American and Western media promote its agendas, let alone the fact that this is the same media which contributed to instigating conflicts in the Arab world, especially in the last seven years, up to the extent of portraying the ‘Brotherhood’ as the only savior of the region from its woes.

The Western media platforms are not completely neutral, because they are under the control of political forces and personalities with vested interests. In the current clash with the US Administration, they engage in battle with President Donald Trump everyday. What about the fierce battle over the midterm Congress elections whose outcome determines the fate of the president in the forthcoming election? Will that kind of an issue be left without investing in it?

Going back to the case of Khashoggi, statement of the Public Prosecution and the Royal Decrees indicate clearly that Saudi’s highest authority was not aware of what transpired. This is the same way errors occur in every country, and some agencies sometimes take action which causes embarrassment to the authority.

For instance, we have witnessed what happened in Turkey where some agencies went as far as planning a coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This attracted a stern reaction leading to imprisonment of thousands of people while others were sacked from the judicial, educational and other sectors. Despite that, there was no global campaign or effort to interfere in the internal affairs as it is happening to Saudi Arabia in this case.

In fact, the reason is like an Arab adage which states a certain action is taken to attract noise for distraction. This is evident in hundreds of TV channels and newspapers, as well as thousands of analysts, employed by the group in a bid to get at the Royal Court in Saudi Arabia. It is to break Saudi influence as the strongest political power in the Islamic world, in addition to being an economic power that is very effective in the global economy. The animosity did not start today as it has existed since the ouster of Al-Nasri in 1952 and became fiercer with every success attained by the Kingdom.

It is true that the royal orders, which ended the disturbing argument, clearly distinguished friends from foes. The objectives include an effort to push leaders of the Kingdom and Arabian Gulf to abandon the praiseworthy open door policy between leaders and subjects through suspicion. For this, the right and wise reaction is to maintain the open door policy while continuing with the idea whereby leaders engage their subjects in opinion sharing, regardless of the existence of parliaments and consultative councils.

This worthy principle that exists in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and Bahrain strengthens confidence and loyalty. Its strength and solidity surface during crises, which happened in Kuwait from 2011 to 2013. It also occurred in Bahrain and it is currently happening in Saudi Arabia. We are hoping for its continuity with further transparency, so people will be more enlightened in understanding the meaning of democracy and its practice without blackmail or exploitation. This is more especially instructive with the declaration of King Salman that his doors are open, saying “God bless whoever points out my faults, so any of you – fellow citizens – who have an opinion which is in the interest of your religion and the country we all serve are welcome”.

In every Friday sermon across the Arabian Gulf countries, Imams usually pray for leaders to be blessed with honest advisers, so we pray that Allah Almighty accept this sincere prayer on behalf of everyone. Lest we say that those who were removed from their positions in recent orders exploited their positions for personal gains. They were criticized by majority of the people while their removal serves the best interest of the nation and citizens.