Saudi Arabia Killed a Man to Build The Line. The Line Is Gone.

Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti refused to leave the land his family had occupied for generations. Saudi security forces shot and killed him in April 2020. The reason he was killed was to clear the site for The Line. The Line was cancelled in September 2025.

Who Was Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti

Al-Huwaiti was a member of the Huwaitat tribe, an indigenous community in the Tabuk region of northwestern Saudi Arabia. His family had lived on that land for generations. In early 2020, the Saudi government began relocating Huwaitat residents from the NEOM zone to make space for construction.

Most residents left, whether willingly or under pressure. Al-Huwaiti did not. He began posting videos on social media explaining his refusal to leave. He named the specific officials he said were threatening his community. He said directly that he would not abandon his ancestral home for a real estate project.

In April 2020, Saudi security forces killed him. The government described it as an exchange of fire. Human rights organisations including Amnesty International and ALQST documented the case, disputed the official account, and called for an independent investigation that never took place. His brother was subsequently arrested. Other family members and community members received prison sentences ranging from 27 years to longer in reported cases.

What Happened to the Huwaitat Community

The relocation of the broader Huwaitat tribe continued after the killing. Human rights groups documented additional arrests of community members who had spoken out publicly against the displacement. The legal framework Saudi Arabia used to acquire the land gave residents no meaningful right to challenge the government decision in court.

No independent assessment found that residents received fair market compensation for their land. The relocation was not voluntary by any standard definition. Families who had lived in the region for generations were told to leave for a project that was, based on internal documents later obtained by journalists, already known by NEOM management to be unrealistic in cost and timeline.

The Project That Required the Displacement Does Not Exist

The Line is gone. The city that would have housed 9 million people, for which families were forced off their land and one man was killed, was suspended in September 2025 after $50 billion in spending.

As covered in the full NEOM pivot story, the site is now being repurposed for AI data centres. A $5 billion deal with DataVolt announced in February 2026 will build an AI factory campus in the Oxagon district. There is no public record of the displaced Huwaitat community being offered the right to return. There is no public record of compensation specific to the project failure.

The internal NEOM audit that put the real cost at $8.8 trillion and realistic completion at 2080 existed before the displacement took place. The people making decisions about relocating the Huwaitat tribe had access to internal assessments of the project viability that were not shared publicly.

Why This Matters Beyond Saudi Arabia

The Huwaitat case is documented. The core facts are not disputed by anyone with access to the evidence: a person was killed by government security forces for refusing to leave land that the government wanted for a project now abandoned.

This pattern appears across major infrastructure projects globally. What distinguishes The Line case is the scale of the discrepancy between what was known internally and what was communicated publicly, and the permanence of the displacement for a project that no longer exists.

AI data centres and infrastructure projects throughout the Gulf region face versions of this question: who held the land before, under what terms was it acquired, and what happens when the project changes course. These are not abstract governance questions. They have specific, documented answers in the NEOM case.

Key Takeaways

• April 2020 — Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti killed by Saudi security forces for refusing to leave land designated for NEOM
• 27+ years — prison sentences handed to Huwaitat tribe members who opposed the displacement
• September 2025 — The Line construction suspended, five years after the killing
• $50 billion — spent on the project before suspension; the tribe has not been offered the right to return
• For developers: AI infrastructure built on contested land is an emerging governance and supply chain ethics issue across the Gulf; data centre site due diligence increasingly includes land acquisition history
• What to watch: Whether international pressure results in any accountability or compensation for the Huwaitat community, and how human rights organisations document the NEOM land acquisition record as the project is repurposed