Neom: Saudi forces 'told to kill’ to clear land for eco-city
www.bbc.com
An ex-intelligence officer tells the BBC he was permitted to shoot dead those resisting eviction.

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”.