Saudi deputy defence minister sacked six weeks after appointment

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah issued a royal decree Saturday sacking the deputy defence minister Prince Khaled Bin Bandar Abdulaziz Al-Saud barely six weeks after appointing him, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

According to the royal decree, the decision has been made on June 26, 2014, based on a recommendation by deputy prime minister, and minister of defence Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz.

On May 14, the Saudi king sacked prince Salman Bin Sultan Bin Abdelaziz Al-Saud from his post as deputy defence minister, appointing in his place prince Khaled Bin Bandar, after relieving him of his previous post as governor of Riyadh.

The royal decree has not specified the reason for the decision.

A Twitter account run by an anonymous gulf dignitary revealed on June 16 that a disagreement had taken place between prince Mohamed Bin Salman Bin Abdelaziz, the son of the Saudi king, and prince Khaled Bin Bandar, leading to the latter’s strike from work, and his complaint to the royal chief of staff Khaled al-Tuwaijri, who promised Khaled to sack Mohamed Bin Salman upon the King’s return from Morocco, where was spending a private vacation.

However, the anonymous account ruled out the possibility that Mohamed Bin Salman would be sacked, saying: “In my opinion, he will not be able to sack Mohamed Bin Salman without sacking the crown prince himself.”

“Mujtahid“, active since July 2011, is a viral account in Saudi Arabia, followed by more than 1.4 million Twitter users, most of them Saudis. It has been famous for leaking news on the Saudi royal family.