'Neom' project: Forces in Saudi Arabia 'told to kill' to clear land for a futuristic desert city being built by dozens of Western companies, ex-intelligence officer says

tardigrada@beehaw.org to World News@beehaw.org – 46 points – Neom: Saudi forces 'told to kill’ to clear land for eco-city
bbc.com

Col Rabih Alenezi says he was ordered to evict villagers from a tribe in the Gulf state to make way for The Line, part of the Neom eco-project.

One of them was subsequently shot and killed for protesting against eviction.

The Saudi government and Neom management refused to comment.

The area where Neom is being built has been described as the perfect "blank canvas" by Saudi leader Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman. But more than 6,000 people have been moved for the project according to his government - and UK-based human rights group ALQST estimates the figure to be higher.

Col Alenezi, who went into exile in the UK last year, says the clearance order he was asked to enact was for al-Khuraybah, an area with villages that were mostly populated by the Huwaitat tribe, who have inhabited the Tabuk region in the country's north-west for generations.

He said the April 2020 order stated the Huwaitat was made up of "many rebels" and "whoever continues to resist [eviction] should be killed, so it licensed the use of lethal force against whoever stayed in their home".

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@tardigrada slightly funny thing: neom in Romanian kinda translates as non-human which seems perfectly fit to the company's overall project.

The word it translates to is not visible for me in your comment.

Could be that it got censored out somehow - there's a double space between "as" and "which".

@apis weird that it doesn't show. I said it is translated into n o n - h u m a n

Hope it's not blocked again in any way if I type it like this...

In the previous comment, you put it marked down as "code". Not sure what client you and @apis@beehaw.org are using, it should show as inline code snippet.

That likely explains things. Thank you! Am here via Memmy.

Cheers. That worked. What a spooky coincidence! Can't think why it would have been blocked.

An interesting video about the whole project:

Neom - The Line - The Rise and Fall of Saudi Arabia's Linear City

TL;DR: It's impractical, unfeasible, and the closer you look, the more it looks like a scam.

I read that in the voice of Jackie Chiles. Along with 'Yet another of my embarrassing architectural failures'.

I do find it extremely odd they chose to build this project in the desert of one of the most oppressive countries in the world. If I had to guess why it is happening in Saudia Arabia, I would guess they are trying to green wash their image, and possibly make it seem like Saudia Arabia is a super futuristic place that people should visit.

From the video, it looks like part green washing, part fearing a post-oil word, part corruption, and part scam.

If SA was serious about their own future, they'd do like Norway with its Oil Fund. Instead, they've been squandering their oil income, and it seems like these projects are aimed both at scamming international partners as well as their own funds, with green washing as a facade.