Brighton visit Newcastle whose Saudi bankrollers are executing people protesting against a new city being built

The Saudi Arabian government who bankroll the great sportswashing project which is Newcastle United are really enjoying themselves at the moment.

Newcastle are flying in the Premier League. Five wins and one draw from their past seven games having put the Toon firmly on course for a Europa League place.

Back home meanwhile, they are arresting and even executing people who do not support the building of a new futuristic $1.5 trillion megacity called Neom.

Trampling on human rights. Killing citizens. Three points at Burnley. All the things Newcastle’s Saudi paymasters love to see.

And by association, so do those Toon fans who defend their overlords, either online or by turning up to St James’ Park waving Saudi flags.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman is behind the Neom project. The centrepiece is a car-free city just 200 metres wide but 170 kilometres long crossing the desert known as The Line.

Bin Salman is also the chairman of the Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which now bankrolls Newcastle.

The purpose of PIF owning the club is so that eventually the world associates Saudi Arabia with the transformation of Newcastle into a world-class football team winning trophies. Rather than executing anyone who dares criticise or protest against the government.

You already have tens of thousands of Newcastle fans cheerleading for the Saudi state. See also how Abu Dhabi have attached their name to Manchester City, Pep Guardiola and one of the finest clubs sides ever in English football to hide their own human rights abuses, including modern day slavery.

That particular house of cards could yet come crashing down with 115 FFP charges hanging over City. It will not do much for the reputation of Abu Dhabi if they are found to have cooked their books and cheated to success, which is why you can expect them to pay millions for lawyers and other legal experts to avoid such a judgement. The beautiful game, eh?

Bin Salman does not tolerate anything getting in his way or public dissent. Bin Salman approved the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi for the crime of being critical of the Saudi government.

Mr Khashoggi was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on the premise of sorting out documentation for his upcoming wedding. Instead, he was subdued, killed and then dismembered with a bone saw.

Bin Salman is being similarly ruthless with The Line. The BBC reports that exiled Saudi intelligence officer Colonel Rabih Alenezi says he was ordered to evict villagers from the Huwaitat Tribe to make wake for development.

The Huwaitat have occupied their land for generations. Colonel Alenezi alleges the clearance order demanding the removal of the Huwaitat stated the tribe was made up of “many rebels” and “whoever continues to resist should be killed, so it licensed the use of lethal force against whoever stayed in their home”.

Colonel Alenezi told the BBC he had dodged the mission on invented medical ground before escaping to the United Kingdom, but that it nevertheless went ahead. One member of the Huwaitat was subsequently summary executed in 2020.

Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti was shot dead by Saudi authorities a day after refusing to allow a land registry committee to value his property during the clearance mission.

He had previously posted multiple videos on social media protesting against The Line and the evictions necessarily to build it.

According to the UN and ALQST – a human rights group documenting abuses carried out by the Saudi government – at least 47 other villagers were detained after resisting their own evictions.

Many of those were prosecuted on terror-related charges. Several were arrested for the crime of publicly mourning al-Huwaiti on social media. 40 remain in detention, five of whom are on death row.

Colonel Alenezi added: “(The Line) is the centrepiece of Mohamed Bin Salman’s ideas. That’s why he was so brutal in dealing with the Huwaitat.”

“Mohamed Bin Salman will let nothing stand in the way of the building of Neom… I started to become more worried about what I might be asked to do to my own people.”

Since arriving in the UK, Colonel Alenezi says a Saudi intelligence officer told him he would be offered £4 million if he attended a meeting at London’s Saudi embassy with the interior minister. He said no.

A word of warning there for Eddie Howe. If the time comes when Newcastle results and performances do not match the expectations of your Saudi paymasters, do not accept an invitation to the embassy.

Unless you fancy becoming the first manager in English football history to be given the chop… literally. As in chopped into little pieces, ala Mr Khashoggi.

If the PIF have sense, they won’t be getting rid of Howe anytime soon. Newcastle have suffered a crippling injury list (although not as crippling as getting shot for not wanting to leave your home) and yet the Toon are still on course for a top six finish.

It might appear a backwards step from last season’s fourth place, but Newcastle struggled with the workload of a first Champions League campaign in two decades.

In the same way Brighton will have learnt lessons from their debut in the Europa League, the Toon should be in a better place going forward to regularly compete at the top table for their experiences this season.

Of concern to the Albion should be the way Newcastle are finishing so strongly on home soil. They are unbeaten in seven matches going back to January and a close-fought 3-2 defeat in the Sportwashing Derby with Manchester City.

Howe’s outfit have plundered 23 goals at St James’ since at an average of over three per game. Against a Brighton defence which leaked 11 through April before securing a clean sheet in a 1-0 win over a visibly tired Aston Villa, Newcastle will fancy their chances of running up another big score.

Defeat for the Albion would obviously be disappointing but not entirely unexpected. And when you look at what else is going on in the world, Brighton losing to Newcastle does not really matter.

At least we are not being forced out of our homes to make way for a new city… and then executed if we protest against the decision.