Together for Justice recalls the case of Abdulilah Rashid Ibrahim Al-Huwaiti, a young man from the Huwaitat tribe, who was arrested in April 2020 after refusing forced eviction from his land and family home in the context of displacement linked to the NEOM project in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
Abdulilah Al-Huwaiti’s case is not an ordinary criminal case. It is one of the clearest examples of how Saudi authorities use the judiciary to punish communities affected by major state projects, turning resistance to forced eviction into a charge punishable by decades in prison. His only “crime” was refusing to leave his land and standing with his family against forced displacement.
The Specialized Criminal Court issued an unjust sentence against Abdulilah Al-Huwaiti, ordering his imprisonment for 50 years, followed by a travel ban of the same length. This punishment does not merely deprive him of his liberty for decades; it effectively destroys his future, in a retaliatory sentence that bears no proportion to the peaceful nature of his position.
The gravity of the case lies not only in the severity of the sentence, but in the message it sends: anyone who rejects forced eviction, defends their home, or insists on their family’s right to remain on their land may face long-term imprisonment before a court widely associated with political repression and prisoners of conscience.
In this case, NEOM appears not as a development project, but as the backdrop to serious violations: forced displacement, security raids, arbitrary detention, unfair trials, and long prison sentences used to intimidate members of the Huwaitat tribe and others who refuse to be removed from their land without consent, justice, or meaningful guarantees.
In August 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court of Appeal upheld the sentences issued against Abdulilah Rashid Al-Huwaiti and Abdullah Dakhil Allah Al-Huwaiti. This confirmed that the case was not an isolated judicial error, but part of a broader policy of punishing those who opposed forced eviction and silencing any objection to the way NEOM was imposed on local communities.
Together for Justice stresses that refusing forced eviction is not a crime. Defending one’s land, home, and family is a legitimate right. It must not be transformed into a security case, and courts must not be used to punish those who resist being uprooted from their community.
The sentence against Abdulilah Al-Huwaiti also exposes the other side of Saudi Arabia’s “Vision” projects. While new cities and mega-investments are promoted abroad as symbols of modernization, local communities inside the country are paying the price with their freedom, safety, and fundamental rights.
Real development cannot be built on repression. No project can credibly be called “the future” if it is enforced through displacement, imprisonment, intimidation, and the silencing of affected communities.
Together for Justice holds the Saudi authorities fully responsible for Abdulilah Al-Huwaiti’s physical and psychological safety. It calls for the annulment of the unjust sentence against him, his immediate and unconditional release, the lifting of the travel ban, and fair compensation for the years of detention and the harm he has suffered.
The organization also calls for an end to forced displacement linked to the NEOM project, and for the rights of the Huwaitat tribe and all affected residents to remain on their land or receive fair, transparent, and voluntary compensation without threats, detention, or judicial retaliation. Abdulilah Al-Huwaiti’s case tells a painful truth: a young Saudi man faces a crushing sentence because he refused to leave his land. This is not justice. It is political and social punishment against those who say no to a state that wants the land without its people, the project without objection, and silence instead of rights.