Saudi Arabia's king in Mecca for crown prince's burial The 78-year-old Nayef, the country's interior minister, was considered wary of even the modest changes brought by King Abdullah, including pledges to allow women to vote and run in the next municipal elections in 2015. Women activists had planned on Sunday to mark the anniversary of a campaign to challenge the ultraconservative kingdom's ban on female driving, but they postponed the protests because of the official mourning period for Nayef. The leading figure as the next heir to the throne, 76-year-old Defense Minister Prince Salman, also is not viewed as a dynamic reformer willing to confront the behind-the-scenes power centre in Saudi Arabia - the Islamic religious establishment that gives the monarchy its legitimacy to rule. Later this week, a special council of royal family members is expected to convene to select the next crown prince of OPEC's top oil producer. The wider succession shake-up also will be closely watched. It opens the possibility that a member of the so-called "third generation" - the thousands of younger descendants of King Abdul-Aziz - could move into positions traditionally considered in line for the throne. In 2010, Salman had spinal surgery and has suffered at least one stroke, leaving him with limited movement in his left arm, said Simon Henderson, a Saudi affairs expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The Saudi leadership keeps a tight lid on health-related issues. The cause of the crown prince's death Saturday in Geneva was not disclosed. Nayef left the country in late May for what was described as a "personal vacation" that would include undisclosed medical tests. Earlier this year, he was treated at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, but no details have been officially disclosed. Nayef's predecessor, Prince Sultan, 80, died in October in New York after an unspecified illness. As interior minister since 1975, Nayef was in charge of internal security forces. He built up his power in the kingdom though his fierce crackdown against al-Qaeda after the Sept 11 attacks in the US and a broader campaign to prevent the growth of Islamic militancy among Saudis. The 9/11 attacks at first strained ties between the two allies, Saudi Arabia and the US. For months, the kingdom refused to acknowledge that any of its citizens were involved in the suicide airline bombings. Nayef finally became the first Saudi official to publicly confirm that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis. That came in a February, 2002 interview with The Associated Press. Nayef took a leading role in combating the al-Qaeda branch in Yemen as well. In 2009, al-Qaeda militants tried to assassinate his son, Prince Muhammad, who is deputy interior minister and commander of counterterrorism operations. A suicide bomber posing as a repentant militant blew himself up in the same room as the prince but failed to kill him.