UN Rights Experts Slam Planned Execution Of Saudi Megacity Critics

UN rights experts have denounced the pending execution of three members of a Saudi tribe, reportedly in connection with their opposition to a planned Red Sea Neom megacity, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Photo Insert: The three men – Shadly Ahmad Mahmoud Abou Taqiqa al-Huwaiti, Ibrahim Salih Ahmad Abou Khalil al-Huwaiti, and Atallah Moussa Mohammed al-Huwaiti – were reportedly sentenced to death on August 5, 2022, and their sentences were upheld on appeal on January 23, 2023.

Three members of the Huwaitat tribe, which inhabits the desert area in northwestern Saudi Arabia where crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s $500 billion (£400 billion) futuristic megacity is under construction, face the “imminent risk of execution,” more than a dozen independent experts warned.

“Despite being charged with terrorism, they 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,” they said in a statement.

The three men – Shadly Ahmad Mahmoud Abou Taqiqa al-Huwaiti, Ibrahim Salih Ahmad Abou Khalil al-Huwaiti, and Atallah Moussa Mohammed al-Huwaiti – were reportedly sentenced to death on August 5, 2022, and their sentences were upheld on appeal on January 23, 2023, the statement said.

“Under international law, states that have not yet abolished the death penalty may only impose it for the ‘most serious crimes,’ involving intentional killing,” the experts said.

“We do not believe the actions in question meet this threshold,” said the UN experts in areas including the right to adequate housing, freedom of opinion, arbitrary executions, and torture.

According to their statement, three other members of the Huwaitat tribe were also sentenced to between 27 and 50 years in prison.

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