It is purported that Abdul Rahim al-Hwaiti was shot and killed for refusing to give up his land for a massive project in the Red Sea. Security forces killed a Saudi national, according to activists in Saudi Arabia, who defied demands from the government to vacate his house in order to make room for a new megaproject.
The man, identifying himself as Abdul Rahim Ahmad Mahmoud al-Hwaiti, claimed to be from the northwest Red Sea region’s village of al-Khraybah in an internet video. He claimed that the government was pressuring him and the other inhabitants to give up their properties and accept cash compensation.
“Anyone who refuses to leave the area would be arrested by government agents,” Al-Hwaiti stated in a YouTube video. The government’s action was dubbed “forced displacement” by him.
He declared, “This is my home,” and that he would not relocate within Saudi Arabia because he views his tribal region as his “own homeland.”
According to Al-Hwaiti, the locals are afraid of what the security forces might do to them, yet they do not want to be uprooted.
In one video, he stated, “I am sure I will be next—or even killed—as nine people from my area have already been arrested.” “I have no doubt that if they killed me, they would swathe my body in weapons and call me a terrorist.”
Saudi activists claim that al-Hwaiti was shot and killed shortly after filming his final footage showing security officers trespassing on his land.
Regarding the reported killing, the Saudi government has remained silent. On Wednesday, calls made in search of comments to two government representatives went unanswered.
Al-Hwaiti is descended from the prominent al-Huwaitat tribe, which is distributed over Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the Egyptian Sinai. The al-Huwaitat have lived in the area for about 800 years, many centuries before the Saudi state was founded.
