“The candle burns not for us, but for all those whom we failed to rescue from prison, who were shot on the way to prison, who were tortured, who were kidnapped, who ‘disappeared’. That’s what the candle is for.” (Peter Benenson, founder of Amnesty International)
It is now well over two and a half years since the takeover of Newcastle United by the Saudi PIF, and NE Bylines has been regularly reviewing what life is like in that Middle Eastern kingdom and what has happened there since that takeover in October 2021. There are some who would claim that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a place where human rights are not respected and that the regime is a murderous regime, which starts illegal wars and responsible for many human rights abuses. But is all that true? Let’s see what has been happening and look at the hard evidence. How has Saudi Arabia been reported in recent weeks?
Parts 1-9 of this survey have covered the period from 7th October 2021 to the end of May this year. So, what has been happening regarding Saudi Arabia in June 2024?
Forced labour
It was reported in the Guardian on 5th June that Saudi Arabia had been accused of using forced labour ahead of a FIFA World Cup decision. It was reported that Saudi Arabia, which was said to be the likely host of the 2034 World Cup, is facing allegations, in a complaint filed by the International Labour Organisation, of widespread use of forced labour among its large migrant workforce.
Furthermore, it was said that. “The complaint to the ILO alleges that migrant workers in Saudi Arabia are subject to a raft of labour rights violations including failing to pay wages, passport confiscation, illegal recruitment fees, debt bondage and preventing workers freely changing jobs.” The trade union making the complaint, the Building and Wood Workers International, also said that the violations amounted to “an epidemic of abuses”, according to the trade union that made the complaint, the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI).
The BWI said they were, “evidence of forced labour, a modern form of slavery, which would put Saudi Arabia in breach of its obligations under the UN’s forced labour conventions”.
The BWI’s general secretary, Ambet Yuson, was reported as saying that, “Saudi Arabia, where trade unions are banned, blatantly disregards international labour standards and fails to compensate migrant workers who have suffered abuses for over a decade.”
Mass killings
Also on 5th June, it was reported in the Middle East Eye that a new report had found that Saudi Arabia was continuing to kill Ethiopians and Yemenis at its border with impunity. This was said to be despite international reports documenting the abuses. It was further alleged that Saudi border authorities have continued to fire indiscriminately at Ethiopian and Yemeni migrants attempting to cross the border irregularly from Yemen in 2023 and 2024.
It was further noted that, “Human Rights Watch has labelled the killing as possible crimes against humanity, but MMC says that international inaction continues to enable Saudi Arabia to commit the violations with impunity. Middle East Eye revealed last year how Ethiopians who fled the conflict in Tigray were met with live fire and forced to bury the dead in mass graves along the Saudi-Yemen border. Prior to the release of an HRW report, MEE also reported that Yemenis were braving violence at the border in pursuit of work in Saudi Arabia.”
Again, on 5th June, Human Rights watch reported that a forced labour complaint against the Saudi Arabian government that had been filed by a global trade union was, “a significant warning to Saudi authorities and businesses and investors in the country about the predictable and preventable migrant labour abuses associated with the government’s Vision 2030 plan that relies on millions of migrant workers.”
Exploitative living and working conditions
It was further noted that in the complaint filed under article 24 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) constitution on June 5, the 12 million-member-strong Building and Wood Workers’ International Union (BWI) were highlighting the exploitative living and working conditions among the country’s vast migrant workforce of more than 13.4 million people, including widespread wage theft.
Additionally, it was noted that, “the ILO complaint is filed ahead of the upcoming July decision by FIFA, which controls international soccer, to greenlight Saudi Arabia as host of the 2034 FIFA World Cup for which the kingdom has become the “sole bidder,” in contravention of FIFA’s own human rights rules and requirements for human rights and labour due diligence.”
Human rights violations
On 6th June it was reported on ESPN that Amnesty International had said that FIFA and countries bidding to host the 2030 and 2034 World Cups should agree to binding commitments and legal reforms to prevent human rights violations connected to the tournaments.
It was further reported that in October 2023, FIFA had awarded the 2030 World Cup to Morocco, Spain, and Portugal while Saudi Arabia is the lone bidder for the 2034 edition. Amnesty International had said that there were “serious human rights” risks that must be addressed.
Amnesty International were reported as saying that, “FIFA should ensure a rigorous and transparent bidding process, based on meaningful stakeholder participation, including genuinely independent human rights risk assessments and comprehensive human rights strategies. FIFA should be prepared not to award the rights to host the World Cup until such agreements are made, and until it is clear that human rights violations can and will be prevented, mitigated and remedied.”
It was further reported that Amnesty had said that the commitments must prevent human rights violations in relation to “labour rights, discrimination, housing, freedom of expression, policing and privacy” before any decision to approve any bid could be finalised.
Additionally, it was noted that, “FIFA had included human rights standards as part of the bidding requirements for the two World Cups, but Amnesty fears single bids for each tournament undercut their leverage to ensure there are no violations.”
Denied asylum
On 6th June it was reported that a non-binary social media influencer who had fled persecution in Saudi Arabia had been denied asylum in the UK because officials allegedly didn’t believe they are really LGBT+.
Ali Saad Muthyib, a 26-year-old Saudi citizen who uses both feminine and gender-neutral pronouns, told The Independent: “they were forced to leave the repressive Middle Eastern monarchy in January 2023 after being fired from their job and repeatedly harassed and abused by police officers. In one incident, Mx Muthyib said that an officer called to their aid after a homophobic assault instead laughed at them and took photos of their bloody face to share on Snapchat, before handcuffing them to their hospital bed with no curtain or partition so other patients could gawk at them.”
It was further noted that, despite this, Mx Muthyib had discovered in May that their asylum claim had been denied by the UK’s Home Office, though they say were not given any reason. Additionally, it was said that a migrants’ rights charity later told Mx Muthyib that the Home Office had rejected their claim because it did not believe she is really LGBT+.
Mx Muthyib told The Independent: “I can’t go back to my country. They will kill me, they will hurt me, they will put me in prison; I will never have work… Yesterday I was really saying to myself, ‘I wish I was not part of the LGBT+ community. Why am I queer? Why am I non-binary? Why?’ I don’t want to cry, but I feel like I need to cry.”
Mx Muthyib was also said to have added that they are still looking for a lawyer to help them navigate the asylum system. They have also set up a GoFundMe page to fund their appeal.
Allegations of worker mistreatment
On 12th June, it was reported in The Athletic that a special report had come out about Newcastle United sponsor Noon and shocking allegations of worker mistreatment
The piece started by talking about Irfan (not his real name). who moved from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia three years ago, thinking he was delivering a better life to his family, but instead was now terrified. IR fan was quoted as saying: “We got to the accommodation, and the logistics were not good, the facilities were not good, and the food was not good. We were not provided with the salary we were promised. We brought these things up with the supply company. The agency manager put some of us in the storehouse without food and physically abused us, beat us. Then they locked the doors.”
It was noted that Irfan was speaking about his first days in Saudi Arabia, and life at the supply company through which he worked for Newcastle United’s sleeve sponsor, Noon.
Irfan went on to say: “If anyone knows I am passing information on about the company, I will be in big, big trouble,” he stammers over the phone, having walked 10 minutes away from his accommodation, far out of earshot. They will fine me 20,000 (Saudi) riyals, these people would make me stay in Saudi forever.”
It was further noted that, even before he had begun his first shift at Noon’s Riyadh warehouse, Irfan had realised things were not right.
Irfan went on to talk about the abuse meted out by the agency who supply Noon with workers: “It happens time and time again. It’s regular. When I arrived it was Ramadan, I was fasting, I had no money, and I had my family to support. Without me, they will not have food. My salary did not come for the first three months. When I went again to ask for it, I was physically pushed out of the office. I went back to my bunk and cried.”
Global attention
It was reported on Newsweek on 24th June that Saudi Arabia’s decision to try to become a world-class player in the field of international sports had won the kingdom unprecedented global attention. In the process, it has emerged as a key component in its “social and economic transformation through the broader Vision 2030 project headed by its de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman”.
Furthermore, it was noted that this spotlight had also largely succeeded in redefining narratives of Saudi Arabia’s reputation abroad in countries like the United States, where concerns over the nation’s human rights situation, going back years, had been substantially diluted as Riyadh benefits from the soft power of its multibillion-dollar push to attract foreign fans, talent, and events.
Simon Chadwick, a professor at SKEMA Business School in Lille, France, who specializes in the nexus between geopolitics, economics, and sports, told Newsweek, “Some people might call this sportswashing. But nevertheless, I think there’s something too in terms of image, reputation, legitimacy, and that, for me, that’s always a crucial word, legitimacy.”
Egyptian man detained
On 25th June, it was reported in Middle East Eye, Saudi authorities had detained an Egyptian man after he had posted an online video during Hajj, in which he was critical of the alleged neglect that led to the deaths of hundreds of Egyptian pilgrims.
It was further noted: “according to a video posted online by his father, Islam Osama Sobhi, 27, is currently held in custody in Taif after the Egyptian consulate in Jeddah surrendered him to security services for investigation.”
It was also said that Sobhi, who has cancer, is detained in connection with a viral video he posted on social media during Hajj earlier this month, where he expressed “shock and denounced the deaths of many Egyptian pilgrims due to extreme heat and the lack of ambulance services and bus transfers. “
Human rights abuses
On 24th June, it was reported by Jurist News that Human Rights Watch had called for the US to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for human rights abuses. This call comes as the US is reportedly preparing to lift its ban on the sale of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia.
The report goes on to say that the “weapons ban, which was imposed by the US in February of 2021 responded to Saudi Arabia’s alleged war crimes in Yemen and the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi operatives in 2018. According to a US intelligence report, the killing of Jamal Khashoggi was at the direction of Saudi crown prince and ruler, Mohammed bin Salman.”
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch had also reported in August 2023, that Saudi border guards had committed “widespread and systematic killings of Ethiopian migrants at the Yemen-Saudi border through the use of explosive weaponry and shooting at close range—in some instances asking survivors which limb they preferred to be shot first”. According to the report, an estimated 90 percent of migrants along the dangerous “Eastern Route”— from the Horn of Africa, across the Gulf of Aden, through Yemen into Saudi Arabia—are Ethiopians migrating for economic reasons or fleeing due to serious human rights abuses by the Ethiopian government.
However, less than a year after Human Rights Watch had published these findings and three years after the initial ban was imposed, The Financial Times reported that the US is expected to resume its weapons trading with Saudi Arabia, traditionally one of the biggest buyers of US weaponry, the Financial Times reported.
Human Rights Watch has responded by calling for the US to maintain its ban on weaponry, until Saudi Arabia ends their human rights abuses, stating
“As news that Saudi Arabia and the US are nearing agreement on a new mutual defence pact, concern and alarm for grave crimes committed by the Saudis appears long forgotten. Without accountability these crimes will continue. With a new defence pact and the intention of lifting the ban on the sale of offensive weapons, the Biden administration sends the message that heinous crimes can be committed, even rewarded, for political expediency.”
Offensive weapons ban lifted
On the same day and in a similar vein, Newsweek stated that less than a year after Human Rights Watch discovered Saudi border guards had committed widespread and systematic killings of Ethiopian migrants on its border with Yemen, the U.S. still appears still to lift its years-long ban on the sale of offensive weapons to the country.
It was claimed that the ban would be ended despite the lack of accountability for the Saudis’ years of war crimes in Yemen, possible crimes against humanity on the Yemen-Saudi border, and what a U.S. intelligence report concluded was approval of killing the journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de-facto ruler.
Falling short of respecting migrant rights
More came from Human Rights Watch on 26th June as they reported that Saudi Arabia was falling short of respecting Migrants’ Rights and called for urgent action on the issue. HRW, along with ALQST for Human Rights, went on to state that the “interactive dialogue with the special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants at the United Nations Human Rights Council on June 25 and June 26, 2024”, should have condemned the situation of migrants’ rights in Saudi Arabia and called for immediate action.
Furthermore, it was noted that the situation of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, particularly those in the construction industry and domestic workers, as well as the killings of migrants and asylum seekers on the Yemen-Saudi border by Saudi border guards, required urgent attention and immediate action. ALQST and Human Rights watch went on to say that “Saudi authorities use “giga-projects,” such as the NEOM megacity project and their bid for the 2034 FIFA World Cup, to deflect from criticism of the country’s poor human rights record and to rehabilitate their image as a pervasive human rights violator.”
Citizenship rights
On the same day, a writer in EurekAlert! talked of how Saudi women had obtained their citizenship rights through their own struggle and there is little truth in the widely held idea in the West that their role in the fight for their freedom has been negligible. It was noted that, “the finding is part of a new research in the journal Diogenes authored by Zahia Salhi, a professor at Sharjah University’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. The University of Cambridge Press has also posted Prof. Salhi’s research online”.
Professor Salhi was quoted as saying that, “far from being passive victims of their society, Saudi women are active agents who possess the tools and the necessary resilience that enable them to militate for their citizenship rights. This goes against prevailing stereotypes, especially in the West.” The report mentioned recent advances in women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, while also acknowledging that women were still not on equal footing to men.
UK
The following day, 27th June, it was reported in inews a Human Rights groups had called for UK and Western firms involved with Saudi Arabia’s trillion-dollar Neom megaproject to quit or confront the kingdom over alleged abuses, in what was described as “another blow to the increasingly troubled scheme.”
Lina Alhathloul, head of monitoring and advocacy at the British-Saudi human rights group Al Qst, was reported as having told architecture news site Dezeen that “it is built on the blood of Saudis, and migrant workers. [International companies] should reassess their involvement on the project unless the adverse human rights impact can be addressed.”
So, there is evidence about what was happening concerning Saudi Arabia in June 2024. Are those who accuse the Saudi regime of having a bad human rights record being fair? What should we say and what should we do today and, in the future, to respond to the human rights record of the Saudi regime?
