Arabian prince gay
How murder exposed Saudi prince's homosexual life
The prince, whose mother was one of 50 children of the late King Saud, paid for his 32-year-old manservant to fly around the world and stay in the best hotels.
Together in London they went shopping, dined in the best restaurants and drank champagne and cocktails in swanky nightclubs.
They shared a bed but the prince frequently subjected his manservant to violent attacks, such as the beating which was captured on the CCTV camera in a hotel lift three weeks before Bandar Abdulaziz's death.
In the footage, the victim makes no attempt to fight back and afterwards walks meekly after his master like a scolded dog.
Professor Gregory Gause, a Saudi Arabia expert, said: "Homosexuality is considered extremely shameful in Saudi Arabia and there is not a publicly acknowledged queer community.
"It's still closeted. But, for young Saudi men, contact with the contrary sex is extremely complicated so there might be a temptation to experiment before marriage," said Prof Gause, from the University of Vermont.
He said about 5,000 Saudi princes procure a yearly stipend of about $200,000 (£126,000), but some were
Gay Saudi prince 'beats aide to death'
A Saudi prince beat and strangled his male servant to death in a frenzied sexual assault at their luxury London hotel suite, a British court heard on Tuesday.
The court heard that Saud Bin Abdulaziz Bin Nasir al Saud, 34, who is a grandson of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, killed Bandar Abdullah Abdulaziz on February 15 after abusing him for weeks.
The 32-year-old victim was found with severe injuries including nip marks on his cheeks in a bloodstained bed in the suite at the Landmark Hotel, which he was sharing with the prince, prosecutors said.
Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw told the jury at the Old Bailey in London, England's Central Criminal Court, that Saud had admitted the lesser charge of manslaughter but denied murder and a separate compute of grievous bodily harm.
Laidlaw said the two men had been staying together at the hotel for nearly a month as part of an "extended holiday" that had also taken them to Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Morocco.
Saud had claimed the pair were friends and that he was heterosexual, but the court heard the prince had ordered homosexual escorts in London and had
Death Penalty Fears For 'Gay' Saudi Prince
A Saudi prince accused of the murder of his servant could face the death penalty in his home land over his alleged homosexuality, the Old Bailey has heard.
Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud, 34, is on trial in London after 32-year-old Bandar Abdullah Abdulaziz died during a brutal attack with a "sexual element" on February 15.
Two male escorts are alleged to have performed sex acts on the prince at the Landmarkhotel in central London where he and Mr Abdulaziz were staying.
The jury in the case was told gay relationships are illegal under Saudi Arabia's sharia law code.
But John Kelsey-Fry QC, defending, has denied suggestions the two men were in a bond and Saud has said he is heterosexual.
Bobbie Cheema, prosecuting, said: "Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia and carries the death penalty which is still applied in some cases.
"The country in which any alleged acts took place would have little bearing on the likelihood of prosecution as the Saudi legal system is based on the sharia rule which is considered to be universal.
"The defendant could be at risk from members of his hold family who may notice that he has b
Saudi prince jailed for life in UK
| Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud tried to claim diplomatic immunity after his arrest [REUTERS/Metropolitan Police] |
A Saudi prince has been jailed for life by a British court after he was initiate guilty of murdering his male servant in a unfeeling attack at a London hotel.
Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al-Saud, the grandson of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, was ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years in prison by a determine at London’s Main Criminal court on Wednesday.
“It is very unusual for a prince to be in the dock on a murder charge. No one in this territory is above the law,” David Bean, the judge, told Saud as he handed down the sentence.
“It would be erroneous for me to sentence you either more severely or more leniently because of your membership of the Saudi royal family,” he added.
On Tuesday the court convicted 34-year-old al Saud of beating and strangling Bandar Abdullah Abdulaziz to death at London’s Landmark hotel in February this year.
‘Sexual element’
The prosecution had argued that the 32-year-old was murdered following a lengthy campaign of violence against him.
Jonathan Laidlaw, the prosecutor, said the prince had abu
Mohammed bin Salman: The dark side of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince
This article was first published on October 20, 2018 and updated on March 9, 2020.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, appears to be further tightening his grip on power following another wave of detentions against perceived challengers to his rule.
Among those detained in the latest sweep were two of the kingdom’s most prominent royals, former Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and the king’s last surviving full brother, Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz.
The Saudi government has not officially responded to reports that the princes were accused of a coup plot against Saudi King Salman and the crown prince, widely famous as MBS.
Since he outmanoeuvred more senior rivals in 2017 to become crown prince, MBS has received favourable coverage in international media, with a multitude of reports focused on his economic and social reforms in the conservative kingdom.
However, previous arrests and an carried on crackdown on dissent in the kingdom, as well as the gruesome murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, has shifted the focus towards the darker side of MBS’s record. This also