Al Saud releases images to show king alive: Activist

A Saudi activist says the eldest son of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz has been releasing images of the king to imply that he is still alive amid reports, stating that the monarch has been pronounced clinically dead.

Reports say Mujtahid bin Hareth bin Hammaam, who is an active critic of the Al Saud royal family, posted a message on Twitter, saying that Prince Mutaib bin Abdullah, the Commander of the Saudi National Guard, together with Khalid al-Tuwaijri, the senior consultant of the king, have released images of King Abdullah to show he is alive.

The Twitter activist is known for exposing controversial information about the House of Saud.

A Saudi journalist at the London-based Asharq Alawsat had already said the king had gone into a coma and that he was clinically dead, nearly a week after a 14-hour-long back surgery in a hospital in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Hospital sources say the king’s essential organs, particularly his heart, lungs and kidneys are not functioning and that the doctors have been forced to use electric shocks to stimulate his cardiac muscles several times.

The surgery, aimed at correcting “a ligamentary slackening in the upper back,” began on November 18 and ended at dawn.

The 89-year-old king’s health has deteriorated over the past few years, and he has been hospitalized several times.