The Assassination of the Saudi King in 1975

The Saudi King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (King Faisal) was assassinated on March 1975 by his nephew Prince Faisal bin Musaid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. There are various explanations about why the Prince murdered the King. According to one of them the Prince revenged the assassination of his brother Prince Khalid bin Musaid al Saud. Prince Khalid was shot by the Saudi police during demonstrations in the 60s, when many Saudis were demonstrating against the King’s decision to allow the use of tv in Saudi Arabia. The assassin and nephew of King Faisal was sentenced to death and publicly beheaded.

Picture 1 King Faisal (1964-1975)

The assassinated King Faisal had become King in 1964 by forcing his elder brother King Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (King Saud) to resign. After his dethronement King Saud was exiled, and he went to Egypt, where he stood by the side of the socialist Egyptian dictator Gamal Nasser, who was fighting Saudi Arabia. For Gamal Nasser and Saudi Arabia see “The Intra-Arab War for Oil 1950-1970”.

https://iakal.wordpress.com/2015/06/09/the-intra-arab-oil-war-1950-1970/

After a while King Saud left Egypt and went to Greece where he stayed until the end of his life in 1969. This was not the only time that members of the Saud family had collaborated with the Egyptian dictator against Saudi Arabia. In 1958 the “Free Princes Movement” was established by Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and some other members of the royal family. They were inspired by the “Free Officer Movement”, which was the organization established by socialist officers of the Egyptian army in the 50s, with Gamal Nasser as the leader, who later overturn the pro-Western King Faruk and aligned Egypt with the Soviet Union. The members of the Saud family who established the Free Prince Movement lived in Egypt for a while, until they were offered prestigious positions in Saudi Arabia and decided to return.

The Saud family has thousands of members. Only Abdulaziz ibn Abdul Rahman ibn Faisal ibn Turki ibn Abdullah ibn Muhammad Al Saud, who founded the third Saudi State in 1932, had approximately 50 sons and 100 daughters. Each son in turn has many wives and kids himself. Most Princes have some form of power i.e. in business, in religion, in the army, in the Saudi bureaucracy etc. There is a constant power struggle in Saudi Arabia, and the King very often has to create new roles in order to keep happy members of the Saudi family who are popular and could create problems.

Articles

“1975: Saudi's King Faisal assassinated”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/25/newsid_4233000/4233595.stm

“Free Princes Movement”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Princes_Movement

“The Split in the Saudi Royal Family”, September 2002

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/12/opinion/the-split-in-the-saudi-royal-family.html

“Saudi Arabia's Royal Family Divided? Prince Calls For Replacement Of Monarch's Leaders Amid Tumbling Oil Prices”, September 2015

http://www.ibtimes.com/saudi-arabias-royal-family-divided-prince-calls-replacement-monarchs-leaders-amid-2108114

“King Salman’s Shady History”, January 2015

http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/27/king-salmans-shady-history-saudi-arabia-jihadi-ties/

“Al-Qaida Threatens Saudi Arabia With Retribution for Executing Militants”, January 2016

http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/1.696734?utm_content=Al-Qaida%3A+Saudi+Arabia+will+pay+for+executions&utm_medium=Daily&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

“A history of treason - King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud”, May 2014

18^th, 19^th Paragraphs

The struggle with King Saud continued in the background during this time. Taking advantage of the king's absence from the country for medical reasons in early 1963, Faisal began amassing more power for himself. He removed many of Saud's loyalists from their posts and appointed like-minded princes in key military and security positions, such as his brother Prince Abdullah, to whom he gave command of the National Guard in 1962. Upon King Saud's return, Prince Faisal demanded that he be made regent and that King Saud be reduced to a purely ceremonial role. In this, he had the crucial backing of the ulema, including a fatwa (edict) issued by the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, a relative of Prince Faisal on his mother's side, calling on King Saud to accede to his brother's demands. In other words, Prince Faisal was backed by the religious establishment, which is headed by the Al Shaykh the descendants of Muhammad bin Abd al Wahab. In addition, Prince Faisal sought authority through significant Sudairi backing which he cemented by his marriage to a Sudairi.

King Saud refused, however, and made a last-ditch attempt to retake executive powers, leading Prince Faisal to order the National Guard to surround King Saud's palace. His loyalists outnumbered and outgunned, King Saud relented, and on 4 March 1964, Prince Faisal was appointed regent. A meeting of the elders of the royal family and the ulema was convened later that year, and a second fatwa was decreed by the grand mufti, calling on King Saud to abdicate the throne in favor of his brother. The royal family supported the fatwa and immediately informed King Saud of their decision. King Saud, by now shorn of all his powers, agreed, and Prince Faisal was proclaimed king on 2 November 1964.  Shortly thereafter, Saud bin Abdulaziz went into exile in Greece.

37^th, 38^th Paragraphs

One theory for the murder was avenging the death of Prince Khalid bin Musa’id, the brother of Prince Faisal. King Faisal instituted modern and secular reforms that led to the installation of television, which provoked violent protest, one which was led by Prince Khalid, who during the course of an attack on a television station was shot dead by a policeman.

Prince Faisal, who was captured directly after the attack, was officially declared insane. But following the trial, a panel of Saudi medical experts decided that Faisal was sane when he gunned the king down. The nation's high religious court convicted him of regicide and sentenced him to execution. Despite Faisal's dying request that the life of his assassin be spared, he was beheaded in the public square in Riyadh. The public execution took place on 18 June 1975 at 4:30 pm—three hours before sundown—before a throng of thousands at the Al Hukm Palace (Palace of Justice).

http://islamtimes.org/en/doc/article/385050/

“Faisal of Saudi Arabia :Struggle with King Saud”

The struggle with King Saud continued in the background during this time. Taking advantage of the king's absence from the country for medical reasons in early 1963, Faisal began amassing more power for himself. He removed many of Saud's loyalists from their posts and appointed like-minded princes in key military and security positions,[28][29] such as his brother Prince Abdullah, to whom he gave command of the National Guardin 1962. Upon King Saud's return, Prince Faisal demanded that he be made regent and that King Saud be reduced to a purely ceremonial role. In this, he had the crucial backing of the ulema (elite Islamic scholars), including a fatwa (edict) issued by the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, a relative of Prince Faisal on his mother's side, calling on King Saud to accede to his brother's demands.[30] In other words, Prince Faisal was backed by the religious establishment, which is headed by the Al-Shaykh, the descendants of Muhammad bin Abd al Wahab. In addition, Prince Faisal sought authority through significant Sudairi backing which he cemented by his marriage to a Sudairi.

King Saud refused, however, and made a last-ditch attempt to retake executive powers, leading Prince Faisal to order the National Guard to surround King Saud's palace. His loyalists outnumbered and outgunned, King Saud relented, and on 4 March 1964, Prince Faisal was appointed regent. A meeting of the elders of the royal family and the ulema was convened later that year, and a second fatwa was decreed by the grand mufti, calling on King Saud to abdicate the throne in favor of his brother. The royal family supported the fatwa and immediately informed King Saud of their decision. King Saud, by now shorn of all his powers, agreed, and Prince Faisal was proclaimed king on 2 November 1964.[24][29] Shortly thereafter, Saud bin Abdulaziz went into exile in Greece.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faisal_of_Saudi_Arabia#Struggle_with_King_Saud