Do we like Mohammed bin Salman?
Our score: 2 out of 10. Real reforms for women, but the harm record is heavy: record executions, same-sex relations still punishable by death, and a Khashoggi finding he denies.
Mohammed bin Salman, MBS to everyone, was born in 1985 and climbed fast: adviser to his father, defence minister in 2015, then crown prince in June 2017 after his cousin was shoved aside in a power struggle. He's the man running the show in Saudi Arabia, and he sold himself as the young reformer who'd drag the kingdom off oil.
The shadow over him is Jamal Khashoggi's killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. US intelligence concluded he likely approved it, and he denies ordering it. He told 60 Minutes “Absolutely not”, while saying “I take full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia”. A 2022 US lawsuit was thrown out on head-of-state immunity, with the judge saying he was reluctant. Trump later shrugged it off at the White House, saying “things happen” and “he knew nothing about it”.
There's a second claim, and it's only a claim. A former senior Saudi intelligence officer sued him in a US court in 2020, alleging MBS sent a hit squad to kill him in Canada in 2018. None of it has been proven, and the report we read carried no Saudi response to that suit. Treat it as an allegation, not a finding.
On the harm check, the numbers are grim. AFP's tally put Saudi executions at a record 356 in 2025. In 2019 the state security agency labelled feminism, atheism and homosexuality “extremist ideas”, and Amnesty replied that they are not criminal acts. Same-sex relations are still punishable by death, with no anti-discrimination protections, and conversion therapy is legal. We found no words from MBS himself on LGBTQ+ people; the 2034 World Cup bid chief says fans “will be respected”, which isn't a law change.
On the planet, Vision 2030 is his pitch for cutting reliance on oil. We didn't open enough reporting to judge how that stacks up against Saudi oil output, so we're not scoring him on it either way.
The good stuff is real. Cinemas reopened in 2018 after decades of a ban, women were allowed to drive from June 2018, and women gained more freedom to open businesses and join the workforce. For many Saudi women that's a genuine change, and he drove it from the top.