Coup Atlas Research Database
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67003062020ConspiracyMilitary coup

Saudi Arabia, 2020 — military coup conspiracy

Saudi Arabia (SAU)Western Asia, AsiaMarch 6, 2020

Event Summary

This entry is coded 6 March 2020, corresponding to the March 2020 royal purge in Saudi Arabia carried out by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. On Friday 6 March 2020, masked royal-court guards arrested senior members of the ruling family at their homes, including Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, the younger brother of King Salman and one of the few senior royals to have opposed the crown prince's 2017 elevation, and former Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, whom the crown prince had ousted in 2017, along with Nayef's half-brother Nawaf. The sweep broadened the next day to dozens of interior ministry officials and senior army officers, among them Prince Nayef bin Ahmed, a former head of army intelligence.

The crown prince accused the detained princes of contacts with foreign powers, including the Americans, to carry out a coup, and of treason. Many analysts doubted a genuine coup had been afoot, given the fragmented army and heavy surveillance of the royals, and read the move as a preemptive purge to consolidate the crown prince's grip on power and secure his path to the throne amid King Salman's advanced age. The 6 March 2020 coding matches the Friday arrests.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman detained his rivals and consolidated power
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (the alleged plot's target)
Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz (King Salman's brother)
former Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef

Sources

Saudi Arabia detained three senior princes, including Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, the younger brother of King Salman, and Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the king's nephew, for allegedly planning a coup, with the crown prince accusing them of conducting contacts with foreign powers, including the Americans, to carry out a coup d'etat.
SOURCE REVIEWED CNBC/Reuters: Saudi Arabia detains three senior royals, including king's brother open source ↗
Masked guards with the royal court arrested Prince Ahmed and Mohammed bin Nayef at their homes on Friday, and the sweep broadened on Saturday to include dozens of interior ministry officials, senior army officers, and others suspected of supporting a coup attempt, including former army intelligence head Prince Nayef bin Ahmed.
SOURCE REVIEWED Al Jazeera: All you need to know about latest Saudi crackdown in 500 words open source ↗
A Saudi dissident described the culture of coup attempts in Saudi Arabia as non-existent due to the scattered nature of the army and heavy surveillance of royals, and analysts cast doubt that a coup attempt in the traditional sense of an army takeover would have occurred.
SOURCE REVIEWED Al Jazeera: MBS's crackdown, What prompted the recent arrest of Saudi royals open source ↗
The arrest of the two senior princes, seen as possible alternatives to the crown prince, was most likely a preemptive move to manage risks of a transition from King Salman to his son, and MBS consolidated his full grip on power with the purge.
SOURCE REVIEWED PBS/AP: Saudis' arrest of 2 princes called a warning to royal family open source ↗

Editorial Note

Coded 6 Mar 2020 matches the Friday arrests of the senior princes. Verified as a discrete event, though the coup allegation was the government's framing and was widely viewed as a pretext for a consolidation purge. First Saudi Arabia record in the run.

Cross-Reference

Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
67003062020

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman detained his rivals and consolidated power.

Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
Open dataset DOI ↗
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

Chicago Tribune

“KingSaud, 62, Forced To Quit Saudi Arabia Throne: Council Of Royal Family Strips Him Of Power’,” March 29, 1964

The Austin Statesman

“King Saud Out; Faisal Takes Reins,” Farouk Nassar, March 31, 1964

New York Times

“Saud Stripped of Power; Faisal Takes Full Control,” Dana Adams Schmidt, March 29, 1964

The Globe and Mail

“King Saud Stripped Of Power, Revenues As Faisal Takes Over,” Dana Adams Schmidt, March 30, 1964

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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