A Saudi prince who was detained in the 2017 Ritz-Carlton power purge has disappeared again, a victim of MBS's crackdown on potential rivals

• Prince Faisal was abducted from his family farm by Saudi state security agents in March 2020.
• He was previously detained at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in 2017 as part of a crackdown on corruption.
• A source said he may be targeted as he's close to the king's sole remaining brother, who poses a threat to MBS.

The whereabouts of a senior Saudi prince who was first detained in the kingdom's infamous 2017 Ritz-Carlton purge remain unknown, as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's plan to incapacitate potential rivals rolls on.

Prince Faisal bin Abdullah al-Saud was first detained on November 4, 2017, when he was kept Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton Hotel alongside dozens of other royals as part of a crackdown on royal corruption.

The sting was led by the then-newly minted millennial Crown Prince Mohammed, the heir to the Saudi throne.

Faisal is the son of King Abdullah, the king of Saudi Arabia who died in 2015 and was replaced by his half-brother and MBS's father, Salman.

Faisal was released from the Ritz-Carlton shortly after his detention, but on March 27, 2020, Saudi security agents detained him again at the King Abdullah private farm estate near the village of al-Janadriyah, near Riyadh, a source close to the prince told Insider.

The source requested anonymity out of fear for their safety, but their identity is known to Insider. Faisal's disappearance was first reported by Human Rights Watch, but some of the details of that disappearance have not been reported before.

Saudi agents accused Faisal of having COVID-19, the source said, which Faisal denied. He was subsequently injected with an unknown substance and taken away, according to the source. He has not been charged with any crime.

"Faisal's disappearance was heartbreaking especially when he was alone at the King Abdullah farm. He was already dealing with depression, heart related issues, another divorce, [and] the unknown," the source said.

The Saudi embassy in Washington, DC, has not responded to Insider's request for comment.

Many of those that were released from the Ritz-Carlton agreed to hand over assets or vast sums of money to the royal court in exchange for their freedom, including Faisal.

Nonetheless, the reason for his latest detention remains unclear.

One plausible reason, the source said, is that Faisal is perceived by ruling royals to be close to Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, the last surviving full brother of King Salman.

Salman is elderly and in ill health, and MBS has appeared keen to ensure that there is no resistance to his succession to the throne when his father dies.

As the king's brother, Ahmed is in principle a contender for the throne, though in reality he doesn't appear to have any real governing power.

Ahmed was detained on March 5, 2020 - three weeks before Faisal - and accused of plotting a coup with Mohammed bin Nayef, the former crown prince whom MBS replaced, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Faisal has cause for hope, however.

Since taking power in January, President Joe Biden's administration has pressured Riyadh to release detained royals and human-rights defenders, with marked success.

The right-to-drive campaigner Loujain al-Hathloul, scientist Bader al-Ibrahim, and Salah al-Haidar, the son of the women's-rights activist Aziza al-Yousef, were all released in early February, though all three remain in the kingdom under travel bans.

The State Department also included Faisal's case in its 2020 human-rights report on Saudi Arabia.

A spokesperson for the State Department told Insider it could not comment on its plans regarding Faisal, but said: "Human rights are central to this Administration's foreign policy and the Biden Administration is emphasizing respect for human rights in our bilateral relationships, including with our Saudi partners."

Adam Coogle, a deputy director at Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division, told Insider: "No one in Saudi Arabia is safe from arbitrary government repression, even high-profile princes. The prolonged detention of royal family members without even a hint of a legal process clearly demonstrates Mohammed bin Salman and his officials' utter contempt for fairness and the rule of law."

Another royal who remains detained in Saudi Arabia is Princess Basmah bint Saud, an activist and author who was kidnapped in February 2019 and has been kept at Riyadh's high-security al-Ha'ir prison ever since.

A US official previously told Insider that the State Department and House Foreign Relations Committee have pressed Saudi officials to explain the circumstances of her detention, but are being stonewalled.