Nayef bin Abdul Aziz
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Nayef bin Abdul Aziz |
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House of Saud |
Nayef bin Abdul Aziz al Saud |
Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz (Arabic: الأمير نايف بن عبد العزيز آل سعود) is one of the six surviving members of the Sudairi Seven, all sons of King Ibn Saud and Hussa bint Ahmad Al Sudairi, making him one of the most powerful members of the ruling family of Saudi Arabia, the House of Saud. Born in the city of Taif in 1933. Positions held include:
- Governor of Riyadh, 1953-1954
- Appointed Deputy Minister of the Interior 1970
- Minister of State for Internal Affairs, 1970 and President, Supreme Council for Information;
- Appointed Minister of the Interior since 1975.
With the death of his brother King Fahd on August 1, 2005, Prince Nayef became technically the third most powerful man in Saudi Arabia. He is more active in the government than the nominally senior surviving member of the "Sudairi Seven," the elderly and ailing Crown Prince Sultan.
The Ministry of the Interior oversees public security, coast guards, civil defence, fire stations, border police, special security and investigative functions, including criminal investigation and is responsible for controlling the clergy within the kingdom.
His monetary support for the Palestinians has been high-profile. Nayef is the supervisor general of the Saudi Committee for the Al Quds Intifada, which essentially "pays off" the families of suicide bombers. His monetary contributions can largely be viewed as an incentive to carry out such bombings. Prince Nayef, distributed $33 million to Palestinians.
Nayef appears to have made himself irremovable. He is in a position to remind his brothers, Crown Prince Sultan and King Abdullah, that regardless of who makes the public statements, it is he who maintains the stability of the kingdom, and his organization that, keeps the royal family in power. It was Nayef, not Saud, who went to Iran for the groundbreaking meeting to renew relations with the revolutionary regime in April 2001. Similarly, it is the job of the information minister to control the content of all media in the Kingdom. Since 1995, the position has been held by Dr. Fouad bin Abdul Salaam bin Muhammad Al Farsi--but Prince Nayef heads the Supreme Council on Information.
Following the revelation that a member of the royal family had indirectly funded a 9/11 hijacker, Prince Nayef has resurrected the view that the Jews were behind the attacks. An article in the English edition of the Saudi newsweekly Ain Al-Yaqeen of 29 November 2002, states:
Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said that he greatly suspected that these terrorist organizations have relation with foreign intelligence that worked against Arab and Muslims, topped by Israeli intelligence. They wanted to attack us at our bases and tenets, notably our religion and the Palestinian issue.
Nayef took the decision to begin issuing women with identity cards in November 2001. The Directorate of Civil Status issued the first identity cards to women on 3 November, thus making it much easier for women to carry out transactions - financial, legal and social - and is therefore considered a highly significant move. Previously women were registered on their husband's or father's identity cards.