Three members of the Howeitat tribe were sentenced to death for refusing to leave their homes in order to make room for the £450 billion megacity Neom.
Shadli, Atallah, and Ibrahim al-Howeiti are members of a tribe that was evicted violently to make place for the development.
According to Alqst, Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court sentenced the three men to death on October 2 for their opposition to the eviction in 2020.
In a tweet, the rights group stated, “The family members were detained in 2020 for opposing Neom’s eviction.”
We denounce the punishments and demand their release.
According to Middle East Eye, Shadli’s brother Abdul Rahim, 43, was shot dead by Saudi police in April 2020 after protesting the displacement of Tabuk provincial residents.
Alqst, a British human rights organization, said on October 2 that Saudi Arabia’s Specialised Criminal Court sentenced three men to death on October 2 for opposing eviction in 2020.
Shadli, Attalah, and Ibrahim al-Howeiti are members of a tribe evicted for the construction of the £450 billion megacity Neom.
On a regular basis, Abdul uploaded videos of his protests to YouTube.
Members of the Howeitat tribe assert that the drive to displace them from their territory for the mega-city, which will host the 2029 Asian Winter Games, has intensified.
Abdulilah and Abdullah Dukhail, relatives of the three men, were sentenced to 50 years in prison and banned from traveling for 50 years for supporting their relatives’ attitude.
Salma al-Shehab, a mother of two and student at Leeds University, and Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani, a mother of five, were also sentenced to lengthy prison terms for tweets criticizing the Saudi Arabian government.
Salma was given a sentence of 34 years, while Nourah was given a term of 45 years.
Alqst stated that writer, translator, and computer programmer Osama Khaled was sentenced to 32 years in prison for “allegations regarding the right to free expression.”
Abdul Rahim, Shadli’s 43-year-old brother, was shot and killed by Saudi forces in April 2020 while protesting the displacement of Tabuk provincial residents.
The projected industrial area, Oxagon, is described as a “complete cognitive metropolis” that will utilize robots and artificial intelligence and serve as an industrial port hub for the country’s newest territory in the northwest, Neom.
Neom, the crowning achievement of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is a projected city-state that would include around 25,000 square kilometers of Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk governorate, close to the borders with Jordan and Egypt.
Neom is derived from the Greek word neos, which means ‘new,’ and the Arabic word mustaqbal, which means ‘future.’
It is part of an ambitious strategy to wean Saudi Arabia off oil dependence and develop the kingdom into a digital hub comparable to Silicon Valley, while also encompassing cities, research centers, education zones, and tourist attractions.
But builders have not yet disclosed the project’s cost or how Oxagon will float.
Plans indicate that Neom will be 33 times the size of New York City and will contain a’smart’ city also named Neom.
Neom, the crowning achievement of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is a projected city-state that would encompass around 25,000 square kilometers of Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk governorate, close to the Jordanian and Egyptian borders.
The project is financed by the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, whose chairman is the Crown Prince.
January 2021 press release: “Neom is an accelerator of human growth and a picture of what the future could look like.”
It will be a destination and a home for people who dream big and want to be a part of creating a new paradigm for excellent livability, successful enterprises, and redefining environmental conservation.
Cloud-seeding machines, the world’s largest coral garden, glow-in-the-dark sand, and a giant artificial moon that illuminates at night would change the region’s barren terrain.