'The Line' is the pivot of Saudi Arabia's mega project NEOM
Saudi Arabian officials have ordered security forces to use force against protesters to clear land for the city of Neom being built in the desert.
This information has been shared by a former intelligence officer of Saudi Arabia with BBC.
This huge project named NEOM is being jointly developed by dozens of companies from western countries.
Former Saudi intelligence officer Colonel Rabih Al Enezi has told that he was ordered to forcibly evict people of a Saudi Arabian tribe from a village.
Later, one of these villagers, who was protesting against eviction from his village, was shot dead.
The Saudi Arabian government and NEOM refused to say anything about this. Actually, Neom is an environmentally friendly area of Saudi Arabia being developed at a cost of 500 billion dollars.
This project is a part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, which it is developing to reduce its economy's dependence on oil. The biggest project of Neom eco-region is 'The Line'.
It is being promoted as a car free city. The city of 'The Line' is just 200 meters wide (656 ft) and 170 kilometers (106 mi) long. However, according to reports, only its 2.4 km long portion will be completed by 2030.
Dozens of global companies are engaged in the development of Neom. Many of these companies are also from Britain.
The area where Neom is being built was described by Saudi Arabia's Wali Ahad (Crown Prince) Muhammad bin Salman as an excellent 'plain canvas'.
But, according to the government of Saudi Arabia, due to this project, more than six thousand people have had to be evicted from their native places.
At the same time, UK-based human rights organization LQST estimates that the number of evicted people is much higher.
The BBC has analyzed satellite images of three villages demolished for this project.
The names of these villages are Al Khurebah, Sharma and Gayal. In the name of vacating the village, even the names of houses, schools and hospitals were erased from the map.
Former Saudi intelligence officer Colonel Al-Enzei fled to Britain last year. He told the BBC that the village from which he was ordered to evacuate was Al Khurebah, which is 4.5 kilometers south of 'The Line'. Most of the people of Huwaitat clan lived in this village. This tribe has been living in the Tabuk area of Saudi Arabia for many generations.
Colonel Al Enezei said that the order issued in April 2020 said that there were 'many rebels' among the members of the Huwaitat tribe and 'anyone who opposes the eviction should be killed. That is, in this decree, permission was given to use force on every person who stayed in his house.
Colonel Enezei told the BBC that he had withdrawn himself from the mission citing poor health. However, despite his withdrawal, this order was implemented.
Abdul Rahim Al Huwaiti of Al Khurebah village had refused to allow the land registration committee to evaluate his property.
A day later, Saudi Arabian security forces shot Al Huwaiti while evacuating the village. Earlier, Al Huwaiti had posted several videos on social media of protests of people being evicted from their homes.
Saudi Arabia's government security agency had alleged in a statement issued at that time that Al Huwaiti had opened fire on security forces, when the soldiers had to shoot him in retaliation.
At the same time, human rights organizations and the United Nations say that Al Huwaiti was killed only for protesting against the eviction.
The BBC could not independently verify Colonel Al-Enzei's statement regarding the use of lethal force.
But a source familiar with the workings of Saudi Arabia's intelligence directorate told us that Colonel al-Enzei's testimony is generally consistent with his knowledge of such missions. Be it the matter of vacating the villages or the order that was issued. These people also said that considering the senior officer Colonel Al-Enzei is, it would have been absolutely right to give him this responsibility.
47 villagers were taken into custody for protesting against their eviction from their homes. The United Nations and ALQST say many of them were later prosecuted for terrorism charges. According to ALQST, out of the 47 villagers arrested, 40 are still under house arrest and five of them have also been sentenced to death.
ALQST says many of these people were arrested simply for mourning Al Huwaiti's death on social media.
Saudi Arabian officials say that those who needed to be removed from their locations for 'The Line Project' have been given adequate compensation. But, according to ALQST, the compensation given to the evicted people was far less than the amount promised to them.
According to Colonel Al-Enazei, "Neom is central to the ideas of Prince Mohammed bin Salman. This is the reason why he treated the Huwaitat tribe so brutally."
A senior former official involved with Neom's ski project told the BBC that he heard about Al Huwaiti's death just weeks before he was leaving for Saudi Arabia for work in 2020 from his home country of the US Was.
This officer named Andy Wirth said that he had repeatedly questioned the owners of his company about these eviction campaigns. But, he was not satisfied with the answers given by the senior officials of the company.
Andy Wirth says, "I was realizing that these innocent people had been subjected to terrible atrocities… You can't just trample on someone's neck to get ahead."
Andy Wirth left the project within a year of joining it. Because he was disillusioned with the way this project was being implemented.
Solar Water PLC, a British salt water treatment company, had pulled out of a $100 million project related to 'The Line' due in 2022. Malcolm Au, the chief executive officer of this company, also strongly criticizes Neom.
Malcolm Au, CEO of Solar Water PLC, told the BBC: "This project may be good for some high-tech people living in this area. But, what about the rest?"
He said that considering the understanding that the natives have about this area, they too should be seen as a valuable resource.
Malcolm says, "You should have consulted them and made improvements without removing them. You should have built and if necessary rebuilt from scratch."
The evicted villagers appeared extremely reluctant to say anything on this issue.
The villagers feared that if they spoke to the foreign media, their relatives in jail might suffer further harm.
But, we spoke to some of the evicted people for another project related to Saudi Vision 2030.
More than one million people were evicted from their homes for the Central Project in Saudi Arabia's western city of Jeddah.
An opera house, a separate sports area, a high-end retail market and residential areas are being built in this new city.
Nadir Hijazi (not real name) grew up in Azizia. This is one of the 63 neighborhoods that were demolished for the new project.
Nadir's father's house was demolished in 2021. They were given only one month's time before starting the bulldozer.
Nadir Hijazi says that the pictures he saw of his old neighborhood shocked him. He says that the entire locality looked as if a war had been fought there.
Nadir says, "They have started a war against the people. This war is erasing our identity."
Saudi Arabian activists told the BBC about two people who were arrested during the demolition campaign in Jeddah.
One of them was arrested for coming in the way of the demolition of his house. At the same time, another was detained for posting pictures of vandalism on social media.
A relative of a man imprisoned in Jeddah's Dhahban Central Prison said he had heard that fifteen other people had been arrested in the same manner.
They had gathered to say goodbye to their neighborhood that had been chosen for demolition.
It is so difficult to contact these people imprisoned in Saudi Arabia that we could not verify these claims.
ALQST surveyed 35 people who were evicted from Jeddah neighborhoods.
Not a single one of them said that they were given compensation in return or adequate warning as per local laws.
At the same time, more than half of these people said that they were forced to leave their homes under the threat of arrest.
Colonel Al Enzei now lives in Britain. But, they still always feel in danger.
He says that an intelligence officer had told him that if he attended a meeting with the country's Home Minister at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in London, he would be given $5 million in return.
He had refused to go to the meeting. We wanted to know the stand of the Saudi Arabian government by putting forward this allegation. But he did not respond.
Critics of the Saudi Arabian government living abroad have been attacked in the past as well. The most famous case among these was that of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
In 2018, Saudi Arabian agents murdered Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
An American intelligence report had concluded that this operation was carried out on the orders of Saudi Prince Muhammad bin Salman.
However, Prince Salman denied any role.
But, Colonel Al-Enazei has no regrets for disobeying the orders of Saudi Arabian authorities regarding Neom.
He says, "Muhammad bin Salman will not tolerate any kind of hindrance in the construction of Neom. I was more worried that I might be asked to inflict some torture on my own people. Then what will I do?" (BBC)
