Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal released after 2 months of detention

Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal
(Image credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was released from detention Saturday two months after he was arrested under accusation of corruption. Prince Alwaleed was detained — along with other investors, officials, and members of the Saudi royal family — on order of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The sweep was described as a corruption purge but is widely considered an effort to consolidate the crown prince's power. Since November, several other detainees have also been released, but it remains unclear who is still detained or what deals facilitated the releases that have been reported.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.