Saudi Arabia: Death of citizen opposed to MBS project causes scandal

Text by: RFI Follow

This is a new scandal which is shaking Saudi Arabia, and which reminds some of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, this journalist and opponent assassinated by the authorities of his country. A case in which Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman is implicated, known as MBS. This time, it is a simple Saudi citizen shot dead by the police because accused of "terrorism". His death raises a wave of indignation on the social networks of the Kingdom. His only wrong: to have opposed an MBS project. 

Publicity

In this case two versions oppose. The first, that of the deceased and his supporters. His name is Abdou Rahim Al Howaiti. It all begins when Crown Prince Moahmed ben Salman, engaged in the modernization of his country, wishes to launch a tourism project called "NEOM" in the region of Abdou Rahim Al Howaiti. 

The latter refuses the expropriation. For him, no question of abandoning the lands of his ancestors located in the northwest of the country, on the banks of the Red Sea, he explains in a video. Then engages a standoff between the man and the authorities. 

But a few days later Abdou Rahim Al Howaiti was finally shot dead by the police. The official version of Riyadh "  the man was actually a terrorist  ". 

Only here, Abdou Rahim Al Howaiti, who felt threatened, left a legacy of a video. In a short excerpt he explains that he is threatened, pressured and even fears of being murdered. "  They can kill me and put a weapon next to my body to make me pass as a terrorist,  " he worried in this premonitory video. 

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• Saudi Arabia
• Mohammed ben Salman

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