By Michelle Jones. Originally published at ValueWalk.
A second Saudi prince may be dead only 24 hours after Prince Mansour Bin Muqrin died. One media outlet claims to have seen a press release announcing the death of Prince Abdul Aziz, but another news source announced that he had died but later removed the report. The rumor mill is now buzzing with unverified reports that a second Saudi prince is dead and questions about how he died, if he indeed has.
Press release announcing Prince Abdul Aziz’s death
The Arabic-language Alithad News reported that Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Fahad bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud has died, citing a press release issued by the Saudi Press Agency. The release includes a statement which Alithad says was issued by the Saudi Royal Court, although other media outlets don’t seem to have seen the press release or the Royal Court’s statement.
The statement simply says that the Royal Court mourns the loss of Prince Abdul Aziz, but it does not give a cause of death. The 44-year-old prince was King Fahd’s youngest son.
Author Ali Soufan, a former FBI special agent, tweeted that it’s been confirmed that Prince Abdul Aziz has indeed died, although he did not cite any sources for that information. He also said that the prince was arrested prior to his death, and the rumors suggest that he died in a gunfight.
How did this second Saudi prince die?
India Today and other news sources reported that Prince Abdul Aziz was arrested on Sunday as part of Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman‘s wide-reaching arrests. He is said to have been taken into custody after a gunfight with officials. There were some reports that he had been hospitalized after the gunfight, and according to The Express Tribune, the al Masdar news network reported that he had died but later removed the report.
Since then, rumors of his death have been going around, and no one seems certain about whether or not he has passed because most of the reports appear to be coming from unverified sources. The most-repeated version of the rumor has the prince dying either in police custody or while officers were attempting to place him under arrest.
Without official confirmation from the Saudi Royal Court, we cannot say for certain whether the 44-year-old prince has died, and while one media outlet claims to have seen a press release offering this confirmation, it is very strange that the statement hasn’t been sent to other media outlets. If he did pass away, he would be the second Saudi prince dead in only 24 hours as Prince Mansour bin Muqrin died with other Saudi officials in a helicopter crash.
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