Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammad bin Salman has received a warning from extremist group al Qaeda, who has deemed his efforts to liberalise the conservative kingdom as “sinful”, reported Independent.
“The new era of [Mohammad bin Salman] replaced mosques with movie theatres,” the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) said in a statement.
The group went on to condemn the prince for the Western “absurdities” which have “opened the door wide for corruption and moral degradation”.
Prince Salman, who was given his title by his father King Salman a year ago, has shocked the Saudi society by instigating wide-ranging social and economic reforms.
Cinemas have reopened, the country’s long-standing driving ban for women is due to end later this month and the prince has even publicly criticised Saudi’s religious establishment as out of touch with the times, promising to return to a more “moderate Islam”.
However, al Qaeda has shown particular outrage towards a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) event in the Saudi city of Jeddah which took place in April.
“[Foreign] disbelieving wrestlers exposed their privates and on most of them was the sign of the cross, in front of a mixed gathering of young Muslim men and women,” read a statement.
It continued, “The corruptors did not stop at that, for every night musical concerts are being announced, as well as movies and circus shows.”
The royal family of Saudi on Wednesday has released an official video which shows Prince Salman attending a summit in response to negate previously spread ‘fake news’ that the crown prince had been killed.
The video was published following claims that Salman, who has been attempting to reform Saudi by wresting power away from the country’s conservative forces, was shot dead in Riyadh on April 21 in a coup attempt.
Saudi has always denied that any coup attempt took place, saying videos of heavy gunfire at the palace was guards shooting down a civilian drone.
Iranian media had speculated that Prince Salman had been arrested or that he was even killed during the ‘coup’. Iran and Saudi are fierce rivals in the Middle East with both countries vying for influence in the region, including in Lebanon and Yemen.
Prasanta Patnaik