Saudi forces have shot a citizen, Abdul Rahim Al-Hwaiti, who refused to give up his home for a NEOM mega project, which was initiated by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman.
Abdul Rahim Al-Hwaiti of the Al-Hwaitat tribe posted a video online where he criticized the project and exposed areas his neighbors had been forcibly removed after facing pressure from the government and rejecting financial compensation.
“People are being wiped out from their homes and people do not agree with what is happening at all. But the way in which the state has dealt with things can only be described as terrorism… state terrorism,” he said.
“I am against the forced removal of people. I don’t want to leave, I want to stay in my home. I do not want compensation, I don’t want anything. I only want my home,” he cried.
Al- Hwaiti added that “The general feeling here is that people are opposed to it, and no amount of compensation will make up for that, even if you pay them 100 million riyals.”
He also predicted his demise at the hands of the security forces, stating “I would not be surprised if they come and kill me in my home now like they do in Egypt, throw weapons in your home and call you a terrorist… this is my home and I’ll protect it.”
In one video, gunfire could be heard in the distance, while another footage reveals the damage to Hwaiti’s property including walls riddled with bullet holes.
Omar Bin Abdul Aziz, a Saudi political activist, described Al-Hwaiti the martyr of NEOM which is being used as a hashtag in Arabic along with “The martyrdom of Abdul Rahim Al-Hwaiti”.
