Billionaire Saudi Prince, Alwaleed bin Talal, Is Freed From Detention
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia on Saturday gave an interview in what was
said to be the Ritz-Carlton suite where he was detained in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Then on Saturday, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Saudi Arabia’s most famous investor and one of the world’s richest men, reappeared, giving a videotaped tour of the luxury suite in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh
that he said had been his home for the past few months.
Samia Nakhoul, the Middle East editor for Reuters, said
that Saudi officials had offered the interview with Prince Alwaleed after the agency asked about a BBC report suggesting that he had been kept in a prisonlike cell outside the Ritz and mistreated.
Katie Paul, the Reuters reporter who conducted the interview, said
that Saudi officials had escorted her to the Ritz because the government currently controls the hotel.
After a brief visit by two people — one who served coffee, and another who helped set up the camera — she and the prince spoke in a room
that he referred to as his office, with no one else present, Ms. Paul said.
Saudi officials denied that report and offered to take a Reuters reporter to interview the prince, Ms. Nakhoul said.
