What You Didn't Know About Mohammed Bin Salman

 

Who is the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia?

 What has he done to improve the nation and lives of his people?

 Find out as we examine What You Didn’t Know About Mohammed Bin Salman.

 #13 Prince’s Palace

 The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has a home suited for his title outside of his native country.

 Located west of Paris, Mohammed bin Salman proudly maintains the 17th century Chateau Louis XIV.

 The mansion grounds, valued at 300 million dollars, feature gorgeous fountains, a private cinema, a huge swimming pool, a garden, a maze, and a massive moat.

 A transparent chamber beneath the body of water grants the Saudi prince a look at the schools of koi fish that reside there — truly a luxury fit for royalty.

 #12 Capital Punishment Leader One of Mohammed bin Salman’s main objectives since taking a position of governmental control has been refreshing Saudi Arabia’s standing with the modern world.

 But for all their efforts, there is one domain in which its contemporaries are few and far between.

 When it comes to capital punishment, specifically as a sentencing for unaggressive crimes, Saudi Arabia’s peers include China and Iran with the three leading the world in this distinct category.

 Some of the offenses that can result in an execution sentence include atheism, blasphemy, homosexuality, involvement with alcohol and narcotics, and intimate misconduct.

 In addition to the harsh sentencing, Mohammed bin Salman’s home nation goes a step further with gruesome means of execution, many of which occur in view of the public.

 And no one is safe from judgement, either, as even juveniles and the mentally disabled can face capital punishment if authorities deem it to be just.

 #11 Oil Powered

 The Saudi Arabian Oil Company, also known as Saudi Aramco, is one of the world’s largest companies in terms of revenue.

 Experts in 2018 valued the company at between 1.2 and 2 trillion dollars, with a yearly revenue of well over 400 billion dollars.

 Saudi Aramco has the second-largest amount of daily oil production and possesses the second-greatest oil reserve with over 270 billion barrels collected.

 To put it simply, this business is an industrial juggernaut with immense worth and influence.

 And it operates under the control of none other than Mohammed bin Salman.

 Prince Mohammed was granted oversight of the trillion dollar company in 2015 via royal decree upon his appointment.

 This was a groundbreaking development as he became the first member of the Saudi royal family to take on this responsibility, adding another layer to his list of duties.

 #10 Protest Persecution In the fall of 2017, Saudi authorities began to round up peaceful dissidents in a string of arrests targeting writers, journalists, religious figures, professors, and civil rights activists.

 More than 60 prominent figures were jailed for the supposed threat they posed against the crown prince’s regime.

 Two months after these arrests, another 200 wealthy businessmen were placed under house arrest.

 These pursuits were announced by the Saudi government as part of an “anti-corruption” campaign.

 Following these arrests, the government enacted an anti-terrorism law to justify their actions.

 The new law defined terrorism in a broad manner so as to include any reference to the king, or the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, in a manner that would “bring religion or justice into disrepute”.

 In other words, simply questioning authority was made to be grounds for prosecution!

 #9 Native Education

 While most of the Saudi royal family would historically travel abroad for their higher education needs, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia took a different route, opting to study within his country.

 Mohammed bin Salman graduated second in his class from King Al Saud University with a bachelor’s degree in law.

 College experiences weren’t alone, though, in contributing to the success of the young prince.

 After school, the Saudi royal would spend a number of years in the private sector and for the Saudi Council of Ministers as a consultant on the Experts Commission before becoming a personal aide to his father.

 Learning from the present King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who was a provincial governor for more than 40 years at this point, he would go on to make his ascent into Saudi politics.

 To keep him sharp, King Salman continues to assign Prince Mohammed one book to read per week before quizzing him under the belief that reading “the history of 1,000 years” will grant “the experience of 1,000 years”.

 #8 Art Enthusiast

 Prince Mohammed is a fan of a number of activities, events, and endeavors popular to the western world, chief among them being art!

 He is quote the art collector, owning many expensive pieces including the world’s most expensive painting, Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi which is valued at over 450 million dollars.

 Though this purchase has been debated as controversy surrounding the painting of Jesus Christ by an Islamic leader has led to the painting being claimed by the Louvre’s secondary location in Abu Dhabi.

 To support artistry in his homeland, the crown prince has begun a non-profit organization called the MiSK Foundation.

 The primary purpose of the group is to improve education, technology, media, culture and the arts for Saudi youth.

 In 2017, the foundation opened the MiSK Art Institute as a “platform for grassroots cultural production, diplomacy and exchange” in the middle eastern nation.

 #7 Monarch Authority

 Many new freedoms have been granted to the people of Saudi Arabia since Prince Mohammed came into power, but the freedom of choosing which leaders assume such a powerful role is still out of the public's hands.

 The rulers of Saudi Arabia are currently chosen by inheritable right by way of relation to the late King Abdulaziz bin Saud.

 The heirs assuming these positions of leadership are all male and are empowered by religious authority rather than popular support.

 There are elections in Saudi Arabia, but these only apply at a local level.

 These municipal bodies composed of elected officials have negligible authority, keeping any real control or influence in the royal family instead.

 #6 Women’s Rights

 Certain improvements to Saudi Arabia’s social structure are undeniable.

 Especially so are the marginal enhancements to women’s rights within the country.

 Kicking off the reforms, the middle eastern nation saw the first woman named to lead the Saudi Stock Exchange in 2017.

 Later that year, Saudi Arabia hosted its first live concert open to the public for a female singer and just a month after that, women began being accepted into sports stadiums for the first time.

 Prince Mohammed would go on to make further advancements with the legalization of Saudi women’s right to own their own business without male approval and granting mothers the ability to retain immediate child custody in divorces.

 He even rallied against the Islamic system of Wali, which calls for every woman to answer to a male legal guardian, with a handful of alterations to the associated laws, along with establishing the right to drive for women.

 These incremental steps have aided the Prince in his attempts to change the international perception of Saudi Arabia, along with giving its female population many new freedoms.

 #5 Female Restrictions While furthering women’s rights has been a publicly promoted priority for Prince Mohammed bin Salman, there are still many changes to be made to bring the nation on par with the Free World.

 Wali laws may have been loosened somewhat, but Saudi women still must seek approval from their male guardian in order to travel or even marry.

 Women in the middle eastern country also have to obtain permission just to access basic services in the legal, medical, and residential fields.

 Occupational options aren’t safe from these restrictions, either, as female Saudis are banned from working in hazardous careers like those in the construction and energy industries.

 And those attempting to flee due to the overbearing control exerted on their lives face unregulated detention, harsh punishment from ones family, or worse!

 #4 Entertainment Aspirations In Spring of 2016, Prince Mohammed announced the Vision 2030 initiative, a strategy to restructure Saudi Arabia’s economy through a variety of projects, including the development of a burgeoning entertainment industry.

 To oversee this improvement, the General Authority for Entertainment was established by royal decree.

 The main goal of the agency is to transfer 25 percent or more of the Saudi publics expenditures on tourism and entertainment abroad back to their home country.

 More than 22 billion dollars are spent outside of the country by Saudi residents, and a fraction of that would boost the domestic economy greatly.

 The projects also aim to increase opportunities for the nation’s youth along with citizen participation at large.

 In pursuing this, Prince Mohammed and the GEA have brought a number of attractions into their borders, including three planned Six Flags theme parks, the first ever Saudi Comic Con, pro wrestling events from the WWE, concerts, stand up-comedy, sports and more.

 Even movie theaters were reinstated thanks to the reversal of a 35-year ban!

 #3 Religious Intolerance Despite such glimpses at a potentially modernized Saudi Arabia operating in conjunction with the rest of the civilized world, the nation still enforces strict laws surrounding non-Islamic religion.

 Currently, around 10 million foreign people reside within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

 These residents, along with the rest of the nation, are subject to laws that restrict the practice of other religions and anything that casts “doubt on the fundamentals of Islam”.

 Among the most vigorously oppressed are the Shia Muslims, who have endured a variety of targeted discriminatory acts.

 One such case took place in 2017 when the city of Amawiya was demolished at the command of authorities.

 This place was home to over thirty thousand Shia residents.

 Tragic acts like this continue to occur under the watchful eye of Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

 #2 Youthful Guardian

 In 2015, when King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud took the Saudi throne, he made Mohammed bin Salman, his son, the youngest defense minister in the world at the age of 30.

 This role grants the crown prince the responsibility of protecting national security and the sovereignty of the country against international threats.

 In other words, defending the nation is obviously the Saudi prince’s responsibility and priority.

 Luckily for him, he has an incredible amount of resources at his fingertips.

 Saudi Arabia is third internationally, behind China and the United States, when it comes to military spending and easily the biggest spender in the Middle East.

 Ten percent of Saudi Arabia’s GDP contributed to military efforts, totalling over 69 billion dollars in 2017.

 This number rose just last year to almost 83 billion dollars and this trend doesn’t look to be slowing soon.

 These funds fuel Saudi Arabia’s five armed forces, which includes a land force, air force, naval force, strategic missile force, and an air defense force.

 #1 Consolidated Control Since Mohammed bin Salman came to power, the crown prince has been hard at work in attempting to secure his ascent to the throne.

 In an attempt to remove any distractions from his positive public relations, anonymous officials told the media that the prince had placed his forcefully-removed predecessor on house arrest.

 Taking matters a step further, there have also been reports that the Saudi royal hid his own mother from her husband, the King, to keep her from influencing any decisions that could hinder Mohammed bin Salman’s ascent to the throne.