Ruthless prince ruled with a sharp sword
Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz al-Saud was one of the most influential figures in the government of Saudi Arabia over the past four decades, becoming Crown Prince and heir to the throne after the death of his brother, Sultan, in October, 2011. Nayef (also spelt Naif) was the kingdom’s Interior Minister from 1975, giving him the central role in ensuring the country’s stability and security and protecting the royal family in the face of threats from Islamic extremists. He played a crucial part in quelling the siege of the Grand Mosque of Mecca by Iranian-backed extremists in 1979 and took the main credit for a relatively successful crackdown on al-Qaeda affiliates who carried out numerous bloody attacks in Saudi Arabia between 2003-06.
Nayef’s ruthlessness in dealing with Islamic militants came in spite of his close ties with the country’s austere Wahhabi religious establishment, whose own radical version of Islam had inspired fanatics like Osama bin Laden in the first place. As interior minister, Nayef allowed the clergy considerable power, through its control of the judiciary, and which it used to maintain a harsh conservative social climate. Nayef repeatedly backed the religious police who roamed Saudi streets to make sure shops and restaurants closed for prayers and that unrelated men and women did not mix.
Nayef was widely regarded as among the most conservative of the inner circle of ruling Saudi princes. He oversaw the arbitrary imprisonment of dissidents, including liberals as well as religious radicals, and is reported to have told activists campaigning for modest political reforms in 2003 that ‘‘what we won by the sword, we will keep by the sword.’’ In the run-up to municipal elections in 2005, it was Nayef who insisted that women should not be allowed to vote and when calls were made for members of the Shura Council, a key advisory body to the king, to be elected he made known his preference for royal appointments.
Upon his appointment as Crown Prince Nayef’s conservatism naturally concerned Saudi and Western observers who believed that only through reform and modernisation could the Saudi monarchy survive in the longer term. There were fears that if and when Nayef succeeded the ailing Abdullah as king he would put a brake on the limited political and social changes the latter had made since ascending to the throne on the death of King Fahd in 2005.