US President Donald Trump and Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman shake hands in the State Dining Room before lunch at the White House in Washington, DC, on March 14, 2017. Trump welcomed the prince to the Oval Office, as both countries expect to improve ties that were frequently strained under Barack Obama's administration. Saudi Arabia is likely to welcome Trump's harder line on its arch-rival Iran and there is likely to be less friction over Riyadh's war against Iranian-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen. / AFP PHOTO / NICHOLAS KAMM

Salman vs Nayef: King Salman Strips Crown Prince of Prosecution Oversight in Saudi

Last updated Jun 18, 2017

YemenExtra

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has stripped his crown prince of his longstanding powers to oversee criminal investigations, as part of a move to restructure the country’s system for prosecutions.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who is also the interior minister, had overseen the Bureau of Investigation and had been in charge of nominating its chairman.

The bureau was attached to the Ministry of Interior, which oversees police and other security forces, rather than with the Ministry of Justice.

The stripping of the power from Nayef is likely to be seen as the latest blow in a long-running rivalry between the crown prince and the deputy crown prince in the kingdom.

Mohammed bin Salman, 31, has risen to prominence since he was named deputy crown prince two years ago, a few months after his father took the throne following the death of King Abdullah.

Nayef, the king’s now 57-year old nephew, was at the same time named crown prince and is the heir apparent.

Reports of tensions between the two have spread since, with Mohammed bin Salman seen in the ascendant.

He already serves as defense minister, head of Saudi Arabia’s main economic policy coordinating body and chairman of a council overseeing state oil giant Aramco.

Nayef studied political science in the United States and received “advanced law enforcement and counter-terrorism” training in the US and Britain, according to an official biography. He has worked in the interior ministry since 1999, initially under his father, overseeing a crackdown on al-Qaeda, which attacked security officers and foreigners between 2003 and 2007

He was named interior minister in 2012 upon his father’s death.

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