The Reformer

He just can’t wait to be king.

Less than six months after his father, King Salman, booted the previous crown prince and named Mohammed his heir, the ambitious young son launched a purge of opposition elements within the upper ranks of Saudi society — arresting and detaining at least 10 princes and more than 200 clerics, officials and wealthy businessmen.

Among them was billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who made his considerable fortune on major stakes in Twitter, the Four Seasons and other top corporations. An estimated 1,700 personal bank accounts were frozen.

The effort was billed as an anticorruption measure, taken after a three-year investigation revealed at least $100 billion worth of fiscal malfeasance and misuse of funds.

But many analysts believe that the sweeping shake-up is really a power grab, meant to further the prince’s “Saudi 2030” reform plan that would expand women’s rights, revamp the nation’s oil-dependent economy and ease back on religious extremism.

And the arrests, made without formal charges, gave rise to rumors of mistreatment and even torture of detainees, leading to blowback from human-rights groups.

None of the controversy dissuaded Time magazine readers from voting for the crown prince as their choice for “Person of the Year.” The magazine announced on Monday that Mohammed won 24 percent of the votes cast — way ahead of the magazine’s handpicked choice, the “#MeToo” movement, with just 6 percent.