Video of a rally driver misrepresented as the 'sleeping prince' of Saudi Arabia

Published on July 15, 2025 at 05:52
Updated on July 15, 2025 at 05:54
3 min read
By AFP Indonesia

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Khalid bin Talal fell into a coma after a car accident in 2005, but a video viewed hundreds of thousands of times does not show the "sleeping prince" finally regaining consciousness. The clip in fact shows a rally driver, Yazeed Al Rajhi, who was undergoing treatment in a hospital after an accident during a race in April 2025.

"Saudi Arabian prince woke up after 20 years of coma," reads an Indonesian-language TikTok post shared on June 20, 2025.

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Khalid bin Talal has been in coma since a car accident in 2005, BBC News Arabic reported (archived link).

The TikTok video shows a man in a hospital bed surrounded by men in Saudi national dress.

Screenshot of the false post, taken July 15, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

Similar videos have also been shared on TikTok and Facebook, racking up more than 3.7 million views.

But the video does not show the "sleeping prince."

Keyword searches on Facebook and TikTok led to an April 16 video captioned "Yazeed al-Rajhi", shared by an account that often shares clips of prominent Saudi figures (archived link).

Screenshot comparison between false post (left) and the TikTok video (right)

The caption reads "Yazeed Al Rajhi" in Arabic, who made history by becoming the first driver from Saudi Arabia to win the Dakar Rally in January 2025 (archived here and here). Yazeed suffered a spine injury after an accident during a race in Jordan on April 12 (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the video of Yazeed al-Rajhi in hospital (L) and the racer's profile image (R)

Another TikTok post shared on April 16 shows the longer version of the clip, with overlaid text that reads, "His Excellency Ahmed bin Suleiman Al-Rajhi, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development" in Arabic (archived here and here).

An AFP journalist covering the Middle East confirmed the videos show Yazeed in his hospital bed meeting the minister.

The official Facebook account of Yazeed's racing team and CNN Arabic also published photos of him receiving other visitors in hospital wearing the same shirt (archived here and here).

As of July 15, there are no official reports that the Saudi prince has awakened from his coma.

Screenshot of an image of the Saudi "sleeping prince"

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

E-mail