British Foreign Secretary Urged to Boycott G20 Over Saudi Arabia’s Bid to Evict Tribe from Homeland

Dominic Raab is facing calls to boycott the G20 summit in Saudi Arabia over the Kingdom’s attempts to drive a Bedouin tribe from their homeland to make way for a futuristic “megacity”.

According to the British daily newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, British lawyers representing the tribe sent a letter to the foreign secretary, said Mr Raab had a “moral imperative” to stand up for the Howeitat tribe, which has inhabited northwestern Saudi Arabia for hundreds of years but is now being ordered to leave the area.

“The Howeitat Tribe are the victims of ongoing serious human rights violations by the Saudi Arabian government,” wrote Rodney Dixon QC, in a letter seen by the Telegraph.

“[They] are now in the process of being forcibly removed from their homeland by the Saudi Arabian authorities.”

The tribe is being cleared from the area so that construction can begin on Neom, a $500bn (£377bn) city of skyscrapers, self-driving cars and robot dinosaurs next to the Red Sea.

The project is the brainchild of Mohammad bin Salman, the Crown Prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, and the centrepiece of his Vision 2030 business reforms.

Some reports said that the tribesmen have already been offered compensation by the Saudi authorities for leaving the area.

According to exiled Saudi activists, some 20 members of the Howeitat tribe had been rounded up and arrested by security forces, in what they said was an attempt to intimidate them.

“They were kidnapped one by one,” said Alya Abutayah, a London-based activist and Howeitat tribe member. “Every day someone is expecting someone from their family to be kidnapped…we are urging people not to invest in this project, which is built on the blood of the Howeitat.”

She was referring to the killing of tribesman Abdul Rahim al-Howeiti, who was shot dead by Saudi security forces in April after refusing to leave his home on land earmarked for Neom’s construction.

Britain is already under pressure to boycott the Riyadh summit due to Saudi Arabia’s record on human rights, including the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the detainment of Saudi women’s right activist Loujain al-Hathloul and the Kingdom’s military campaign against Yemen.