Saudi Arabia denies UN report on human rights violations in NEOM project

Saudi Arabia has officially responded to human rights concerns by the United Nations over the NEOM megacity project being constructed in the Kingdom, alleging that three men sentenced to death are not prosecuted over their refusal to relocate but, instead, over terrorist activities.

In a 27-page letter by the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations earlier this month, it responded to a report by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) which raised concerns over the Kingdom’s sentencing to death of three men for reportedly refusing to relocate from their historic homeland in the north-west of the country to make way for the construction of the vast megacity NEOM project.

According to the UN experts in that initial press release, “Despite being charged with terrorism, they [the three men] were reportedly arrested for resisting forced evictions in the name of the NEOM project and the construction of a 170 km linear city called The Line”.

The experts had questioned the validity of the death penalty in this instance, highlighting that “Under international law, States that have not yet abolished the death penalty may only impose it for the ‘most serious crimes’, involving intentional killing. We do not believe the actions in question meet this threshold.”

Saudi Arabia’s mission to the UN denied those allegations, however, stating that the “information contained in the joint communication is inaccurate and contains false allegations and claims that are based solely on information received from the source without substantiation or evidence”.

The letter rejected that the three men – Shadli bin Ahmad Al-Huwaiti, Ibrahim bin Salih Al-Huwaiti, and Atallah bin Moussa Al-Huwaiti – were sentenced to death “simply for expressing their opposition to the evictions, which is totally untrue. The penalties imposed on them were for being convicted of terrorist offences.”

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Riyadh insisted that the cousins were arrested and tried for “joining a terrorist entity seeking to corrupt the country through armed insurrection against the state”, possessing weapons for use in terrorist activities, “incitement to participate in terrorist acts”, and “supporting two terrorist entities” which are alleged to be Daesh and Al-Qaeda. It also claimed that Ibrahim Al-Huwaiti was involved in the “financing of terrorism and supply of weapons and ammunition to terrorists for use in terrorist operations”.

The Saudi mission’s letter stressed the independence of the Kingdom’s judiciary and maintained that it is uninfluenced by the government or any third parties.

In their condemnation, the UN experts had also criticised the Saudi authorities’ apparent use of force and pressure to relocate the historic inhabitants of the relevant areas in the Tbuk region of north-west Saudi Arabia, questioning the government’s guarantee to fully compensate those who relocated.

Instead, the experts accused the Saudi security services of enforcing forceful evictions, stating that many members of the Huweitat tribe had their homes demolished and were not provided with adequate compensation. “Given the circumstances, we cannot consider that the requirements of consultation and free, prior and informed consent of the Huwaitat people of the three villages have been met,” the UN experts stated.

The Saudi mission denied those accusations, stating that the “method of forced eviction or displacement is not practised in the Neom or other projects, regardless of whether the population have or do not have documentary proof of property ownership meeting the legal requirements”. It insisted that “The process of population relocation passed through a number of phases beginning with consultation sessions, followed by citizens’ reception and then the provision of development interventions.”

The number of those so far relocated, according to the Saudi letter, amounts to 1,143 families comprising a total of 6,360 individuals, all of which was decided by “an impartial committee comprising members from several government agencies as well as two independent members”.

The Kingdom’s mission to the UN maintained that all of those individuals have been fully compensated for their homes and immovable assets, and are able to make any complaints with Board of Grievances. In that regard, 1,352 complaints have, so far, been reportedly lodged “on a wide variety of matters from property owners and residents affected by relocation”.

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