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US lawsuit casts spotlight on 'disappeared' Saudi royal
Former crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef (MBN), unseated as heir to the throne by his cousin Prince Mohammed in 2017, has not been seen in public since his detention in March last year.
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In this file handout photo released by Saudi Royal Palace on December 14, 2016 shows Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef (right) speaking with deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during the opening session of the Shura Council in Riyadh. (AFP/Bandar Al-Jaloud)
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US-based lawsuit against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman centred on a Caribbean oil refinery, but unexpectedly highlighted something else -- the disappearance of his main rival.
Former crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef (MBN), unseated as heir to the throne by his cousin Prince Mohammed in 2017, has not been seen in public since his detention in March last year.
MBN, long seen as the CIA's most trusted Saudi ally, served as the kingdom's interior minister from 2012 before becoming crown prince three years later.
The lawsuit pointed to government efforts to keep a tight lid on his whereabouts, with documents showing the detained royal was represented by a US law firm that works for his rival.
The man behind the lawsuit, Saudi businessman Nader Turki Aldossari, is barred from leaving the kingdom along with his family members, according to letters from his lawyer to President Joe Biden and other US officials.
The story began in June last year, when Aldossari filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania on behalf of his son Rakan, an American citizen, against MBN and other Saudi entities.
He alleged they had failed to honour a decades-old contract related to a refinery project on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia.
But the case posed a peculiar conundrum: how to serve a summons to a prince whose whereabouts were unknown?
The suit was amended to include Prince Mohammed, stating that he had placed MBN under house arrest and seized his assets, thus preventing him from meeting his contractual obligations.
And when Aldossari said a summons could not be served against MBN, the court ordered Prince Mohammed's lawyers to help ascertain his location.
In March, Prince Mohammed's counsel offered to provide MBN's address on a "confidential basis", saying in a court filing that he faced terrorism-related threats due to his previous role as the kingdom's interior minister.
There was no mention of him being detained.
Aldossari's counsel insisted that Prince Mohammed was "holding the former crown prince under house arrest".
"Nayef is effectively a prisoner of... Saudi Arabia," he said in a filing.
But last month, the judge threw out Aldossari's breach-of-contract case, leaving the questions of MBN's status and whereabouts unresolved.
Aldossari's lawyer James Tallman told AFP he plans to appeal -- as well as fight his own clients' travel ban, which he fears "could escalate to detention".
