King Salman names his son as Saudi Arabia's new crown prince

A poster featuring King Salman, former Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, and new Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
(Image credit: Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images)

In a shakeup, Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Wednesday appointed his son, Mohammed bin Salman, as crown prince, removing his nephew Prince Mohammed bin Nayef from the line of succession and stripping him of his crown prince title and position as the country's counterterrorism czar.

Mohammed bin Salman, 31, is already defense minister and head of the council aiming to reform Saudi Arabia's economy, and had been the deputy crown prince. In a royal decree issued over the weekend, the king restructured the country's systems for prosecutions, which took away Mohammed bin Nayef's power to oversee criminal investigations. The king has near absolute powers, and a royal decree issued Wednesday says that 31 of the 34 members that make up the Allegiance Council — all powerful relatives of the monarch — supported changing the line of succession.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.