A panel of United Nations human rights experts published a letter this week condemning Saudi Arabia for sentencing multiple indigenous tribesmen to death on vague “terrorism” charges after opposing the displacement of their tribes from the country’s northwest, where Riyadh is planning the construction of an allegedly revolutionary “megacity.”
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) is spearheading the effort to build “Neom,” a proposed “zero-carbon” city and luxury tourism destination on the northern banks of the Red Sea. Neom currently consists of four distinct projects, the most ambitious of which, “The Line,” is a 106-mile-long skyscraper the Saudi government claims will comfortably house as many as five million people.
Neom organizers claim the city will also include a Dubai-esque luxury island, Sindalah; Oxagon, a “floating” Silicon Valley-esque innovation community; and Trojena, a ski resort and wellness center for music festivals and yoga retreats. They have also hinted that Saudi Arabia’s repressive interpretation of sharia, or Islamic law, would not apply in the city, teasing the establishment of alcohol-serving establishments and featuring women without hijabs in its promotional material.
Neom is the flagship project of the MBS-led “Vision 2030,” the Saudi government’s holistic plan to diversify its economy away from oil, making it less vulnerable to potential economic decline should the world begin to adopt “green” energy alternatives on a mass scale.
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