“Non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.” (Martin Luther King Jr.)
It is now over four years since the takeover of Newcastle United by the Saudi Public Investment Fund and since then North East 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 really true? Let’s see what has been happening and look at the hard evidence. How has Saudi Arabia been reported in recent weeks?
Parts I-26 of this survey have covered the period from 7 October 2021 to the end of October this year. So, what has been happening regarding Saudi Arabia in November 2025?
Migrant workers not paid
It was reported on 6 November that Human Rights Watch had said that for eight months now, up to 600 migrant workers employed by Saudi Arabian Baytur Construction Company had not received their salaries. It was further noted that, “the actual figure of unpaid workers could be significantly higher”.
Workers at the nearly trillion-dollar Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) funded US$26 billion Mecca-based Masar redevelopment project, resorted to strikes and work stoppages as a last resort, based on media reports and interviews. Eleven migrant workers were released having been detained.
Newcastle councillors in plea for clemency
It was reported on 8 November that about 12 Newcastle politicians had written to the regime in Saudi Arabia concerning the execution of a man for alleged crimes committed as a child.
It was also noted that “city leaders have faced sustained pressure from campaigners over recent years to speak out over human rights abuses in the Gulf state, since the takeover of Newcastle United in 2021 by a consortium led by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF).”
It was further reported that campaigners had claimed that with council bosses keen to push for investment from Saudi Arabia, growing links between the kingdom and Tyneside, had led to the city’s reputation being “dragged through the mud”.
It was said that, “it has now been confirmed that 12 Newcastle councillors recently wrote to the Saudi embassy and directly to the Saudi king as part of a campaign calling for Abdullah al-Derazi’s conviction to be quashed. According to Amnesty International, he had been sentenced to death for his alleged participation in protests against the government’s treatment of the Shia minority in 2011 and 2012 – when he was aged 17. The human rights organisation said that he was convicted after a ‘grossly unfair trial that relied on a torture-tainted ‘confession’”.
Human rights at forefront of agenda
On 11 November, it was reported that Human Rights Watch had said that the US must “place human rights at the forefront of its diplomatic agenda as Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits Washington this week.”
Sarah Yager, Washington director at HRW., commented: “Saudi Arabia’s crown prince is trying to rebrand himself as a global statesman, but the reality at home is mass repression, record numbers of executions, and zero tolerance for dissent”.
Egyptian executed
On 17 November it was reported that for a year, Mohamed Saad’s family had had no idea whether he was alive or dead, after the 28-year-old Egyptian fisherman had gone out on a routine trip off the coast of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and never returned. Relatives spent months searching for him with no word from authorities. When they finally heard his voice, it was from a prison in Tabuk, northern Saudi Arabia, where Saad said he was being held on drug-smuggling charges.
It was further reported that “on 21 October the Saudi state killed him, eight years after being detained. The family learned of his death through a cellmate. The official Saudi news agency said a court had judged him guilty of smuggling amphetamine pills”. As of 17 November, someone close to the family told CNN that Saudi officials had still not told them where he is buried or even notified Saad’s family of his killing. The family have said that he was simply a fisherman.
Migrant workers abused
It was announced on 18 November by Amnesty International that a new report from them highlighted the way migrant workers who had travelled to Saudi Arabia to work on the Riyadh Metro project had, worked in dangerous heat, been forced to pay exorbitant recruitment fees and earned pitiful wages during a decade of serious abuse.
It was further noted that “the 42-page report – “Nobody wants to work in these situations”: A decade of exploitation on the Riyadh Metro project – documents labour abuses on one of Saudi Arabia’s flagship infrastructure projects. Promoted as the “backbone” of Riyadh’s public transport system, the newly opened metro was built by leading international and Saudi firms under government direction and is slated for further expansion. However, many of the workers Amnesty interviewed were charged illegal fees to secure work and then endured long, arduous hours in sometimes unsafe conditions for minimal, discriminatory pay.”
Trump praises Mohammed Bin Salman
It was reported on 19 November that observers of the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia had been shocked at Donald Trump praising Saudi prince Mohammad bin Salman’s work on ‘human rights’. Trump was quoted as saying: “I’m very proud of the job he’s done. What he’s done is incredible in terms of human rights and everything else.”
It was further noted that, “dissenters, journalists, and human rights activists reportedly continue to face imprisonment and intimidation, despite Saudi officials’ claims of progress on women’s rights and other reforms. According to Amnesty International, convictions for social media activity and a record-breaking execution rate exemplify continued violations since 2018.
“Amnesty cited the continued imprisonment of activists like Manahel al-Otabi, Abdulrahman al-Sadhan, and Sheikh Salman Alodah, and called for their immediate release”
So, there is evidence about what was happening concerning Saudi Arabia in October 2025. 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, in order to respond to the human rights record of the Saudi regime?
Perhaps we ought to remember the words of Martin Luther King Jr., who visited Newcastle on 13 November 1967, to receive an honorary degree at Newcastle University. In a sermon in 1959, King noted that, “It is always the right time to do the right thing.” Shouldn’t we all follow King’s wise words with regards to the brutality of the Saudi regime?
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