There was no doubt in Saudi Arabia’s judicial system that Prince Turki bin Saud Al Kabir pulled the trigger during a melee that left a man dead.

The bigger question in the public’s mind was whether a member of the royal family would escape the common punishment of execution.

The answer came Wednesday with official reports that the prince was put to death the previous day.

There was more to the sentence, however, than carried in the brief report by the state-run Saudi Press Agency. It was widely interpreted as a message from the leadership that no one in the kingdom is above the law during a difficult period of social retrenching.

Slumping oil prices have forced sweeping cutbacks in a once-solid social contract that provided generous benefits and a vast pool of state jobs in exchange for acceptance of the monarchy’s absolute power. Many young Saudis have now ramped up criticism of the leadership and its policies.

Kabir was among thousands of princes in the extended family of the Saudi royal court and did not have any key policymaking roles.

The brawl was purportedly caught on tape. In the video, a man who is identified as Prince Turki bin Saud Al Kabir is seen with an automatic weapon, firing indiscriminately into a crowd.

While people scatter, one of them can be heard saying that the prince is drunk.

Washington Post