50-Year Sentence for Abdulilah Al-Huwaiti for Opposing Forced Displacement Linked to NEOM Project

Saudi authorities have continued to detain activist Abdulilah Rashid Ibrahim Al-Huwaiti since April 2020, following his opposition to the forced displacement of the Huwaitat tribe due to the NEOM megaproject.

In August 2022, the Specialized Criminal Appeals Court sentenced Al-Huwaiti to 50 years in prison, followed by another 50 years of travel ban — one of the harshest sentences handed down against individuals resisting forced evictions.

Al-Huwaiti is one of dozens of Huwaitat tribe members who have faced arrest and state persecution simply for refusing to leave their homes and ancestral lands, amid a total lack of legal safeguards or fair trials.

SANAD Human Rights Organization affirms that the continued detention of Abdulilah Al-Huwaiti is a blatant violation of human rights. The organization calls for his immediate release, along with all others imprisoned for opposing forced displacement, and demands an end to all forms of repression against the Huwaitat community.