New Details On The Night Of Beatings At The Ritz-Carlton

The Guardian published new information about the victims of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh, and covered stories of torture, coercion, and chaotic attempts by royal court advisors to understand the nature of the investments that made the wealth of the most powerful families inside the kingdom before seizing what they could find.The newspaper report indicated that, “In early November 2017, about 400 of the most influential figures in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – including princes, business leaders and ministers – were gathered and detained inside the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, in the process that became the largest and most controversial purge in A history of the modern kingdom. ”

Prominent figures who were in detention revealed details of what they say happened, as former detainees, many of whom were stripped of their wealth, told stories of the arrests that often began with a phone call to summon the characters for meetings with Prince Mohammed, or King Salman himself.

In other cases, two prominent businessmen said, “They were asked to meet in a house, and they waited for an adviser of the royal court to join them, but instead, State Security officers appeared and took them to the Five-Star prison, where guards and senior assistants were waiting.”A source with close knowledge of what happened said that “On the first night, everyone was blindfolded and exposed to what Egyptian intelligence called“ the night of the beating. ”The people were asked if they knew the reason for their presence there, but no one knew of course and the majority were beaten, which was Sometimes, he was severely tied to the wall in stressful situations, and the matter lasted for hours, and all of those involved in these torture operations were Saudis.

Speaking about the investigators, the source said, “There is a misconception that they arrived knowing everything big and small, with detailed pages of data and information, but they were not like that, and in fact they knew very little, and they were improvising and there was good information regarding Saudi assets, but Their knowledge of assets outside the country was very limited. ”

Some detainees reported being threatened with divulging private information, such as extramarital affairs or business deals that would not have obtained approval even under the old regime. No information was leaked, but the few details that emerged gave importance to the calls that Ibrahim Wardi, an assistant professor in international finance at Fletcher College at Tufts University in the US, received in mid-2017 from former students asking about prominent Saudi figures who explored their careers during his work session, poetry That something big was on the horizon in Riyadh, and he was right.

The men questioned were stunned by the investigators ’poor understanding of the investment structures. The source familiar with the events of the Ritz said, “They were guessing the people’s net worth and that the wealthy prisoners were subjected to extortion and at some point, they allowed people to log in to their email and access their phones, and they ordered them to contact the directors of banking relations in Geneva and ask for huge sums of money, but the callers told the investigators The accounts did not have any capital, so investigators believed that all the assets were cash.

The source told The Guardian, “The interrogators often had no idea what they were looking for, and the matter became outright blackmail in some cases, as some detainees refused to sign anything. Saudi justice is about something like negotiating to reduce the punishment, but this is what they were trying to impose by force. ”