Abdul-Rahim al-Howeiti
Fuentes
In April 2020, activist Abdul-Rahim al-Howeiti (or Abdul Rahim bin Ahmed Mahmoud Al Huwaiti, or Abdul Rahim Ahmad Mahmoud al-Hwaiti) was killed by Saudi security forces when protesting his community's forced expulsion from their land in Al- Khuraybah to make way for the development of giga-project NEOM. Saudi Arabia's NEOM gigaproject is an estimated $500bn construction project to create a futuristic city encompassing towns and cities, ports, tourist destinations and entertainment centres. It aims to be 33 times the size of New York City. Al-Howeiti was a member of the minority Howeitat tribe and had long-protested the removal of his community as "state terrorism". He documented his resistance and the presence of security forces in videos posted on social media. In one of the last videos that he posted, al-Howeiti alleged that the project had already started and community members already being removed.