Only death can stop me from ruling

International Desk: Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said that "only death" will stop him from ruling the kingdom in a wide-ranging interview on the eve of his first official visit to the United States.

"Only God knows how long one will live, if one would live 50 years or not, but if things go their normal ways, then that's to be expected," bin Salman said in an exclusive interview that aired on the US news programme 60 Minutes on Sunday evening.

When asked by CBS' Norah O'Donnell if anything could stop him, the crown prince responded "only death".

The 60 Minutes report, the first US television interview with bin Salman since he came to power, largely painted MBS - as bin Salman is commonly known - as a leader who has introduced "revolutionary" reforms to his country.

The interview comes just months after the kingdom held several Saudi princes and other officials for months in the Ritz Carlton hotel in Riyadh in what the crown prince dubbed an effort to root out corruption. 

Human Rights Watch said the tactics looked "more like extortion" and made "a mockery of the rule of law".

In the interview, bin Salman said Saudi Arabia recuperated more than $100bn in the operation and described accusations the detentions were part of a power grab as "naive". 

"What we did in Saudi Arabia was extremely necessary. All actions taken were in accordance with existing and published laws," the crown prince said.

Bin Salman also blamed the social problems and shift towards conservatism in Saudi Arabia on the Islamic Revolution in Iran. 

"We were just normal people developing like any other country in the world until the events of 1979," he said.

Source: Agencies


risingbd/March 19, 2018/Mukul