Arabic press review: Saudi prince arrested over schoolyard brawl

Saudi prince arrested over a school brawl

Saudi police arrested the brother of a billionaire prince for being involved in a fight in a school carpark in Riyadh and for pulling a weapon on pupils, reported Arabi 21 on Thursday.

Prince Mashhour bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz is the brother of Al Waleed bin Talal, one of 11 Saudi princes who were arrested in the unprecedented purge led by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

A video of the quarrel has been circulating across social media. 

It showed what Arabi21 said was a group of the prince's friends hitting pupils with bats. Arabi21 and said a firearm was produced during the fight, although this cannot be confirmed by the video.

The New York Times reported that at least 17 of the people arrested in Salman’s purge need hospital treatment earlier this month, after Middle East Eye revealed that some senior figures among those arrested had been beaten and tortured at the Ritz Carlton Hotel where they are being held.

Saudi Arabia offers new deal to detainees

Saudi authorities have reportedly attempted to cut a deal with Islamic preachers and religious figures arrested along with dozens of senior Saudi figures since earlier this month.

According to Qatari newspaper al-Sharq, the deal involves their support in efforts to normalise relations with Israel in return for their freedom.

The news comes after the Financial Times reported that the hotel detainees could buy their freedom by surrendering up to 70 percent of their wealth.

Moroccan MP challenges the king

A member of the Moroccan parliament has reportedly stood up to the king when he voted against the allocated budget for the royal palace, reported the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi.

The Moroccan MP Omar Blafrij justified his decision by saying that "the increase in the king's budget was unjustified" and that the government had failed to provide a convincing reason for increasing the royal palace's budget.

All other parliamentary members had reportedly accepted the increase without any dispute.

Thousands of Facebook accounts hacked in Algeria

Algerian security forces arrested a 26-year-old university student after he hacked hundreds of Facebook accounts, 1,700 of which belonged to famous figures, reported the Algerian newspaper Echorouk el-Yawmi on Wednesday.

The security services also arrested a secondary school student who had managed to hack 11,000 Algerian Facebook accounts, reported the paper.

The Algerian authorities managed to detect the hacker after receiving complaints from users whose accounts had been affected.

Arabic press review is a digest of reports that are not independently verified as accurate by Middle East Eye.