Saudi troops were allowed by the government to use lethal force to clear land for Neom, the “megacity of the future” and prestige project of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. This was stated by a former intelligence officer to BBC News.
Former Colonel Rabih Alenezi, in exile in the United Kingdom since last year, says he was ordered by the government to evict villagers to make way for the futuristic megacity The Line. Alenezi and his colleagues received a ‘license to kill’, the permission to use lethal force.
The Line is the flagship of Neom, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s eco-project worth more than 500 billion euros. The Line was initially intended to be a futuristic city, an apparently flat skyscraper, 170 kilometers long and 200 meters wide and must run entirely on renewable energy. In the meantime, however, it became known that only 2.4 kilometers of the project would be completed by the 2030 deadline.
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Although the location where The Line is being built is described by Bin Salman as the “perfect blank canvas”, according to the Saudi government, more than 6,000 people will have to be relocated for the project. According to the British human rights organization ALQST, that number is much higher. According to Alenezi, not everyone wanted such a forced move and at least one of the villagers was shot dead because he protested against an eviction.
Both the Saudi government and Neom’s board declined to comment on the statements.
