Thousands of labourers are dying every year amid the construction of a futuristic ‘megacity’ in Saudi Arabia due in part to horrific working conditions and human rights abuses, a new investigation has claimed.
The Kingdom’s controversial ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is spending trillions to transform his country and its international image while diversifying away from oil as its primary source of wealth as part of his ‘Vision 2030’ initiative.
One of the cornerstones of the Crown Prince’s ambitious project is The Line, a scarcely believable car-free metropolis that is planned to stretch more than 100 miles through the desert.
Project chiefs say The Line will ‘redefine liveability’ and ‘transform how we live’, serving as a sustainable, inclusive example of cities for the future.
But figures revealed this week claim at least 21,000 migrant workers have died working on the Crown Prince’s projects in just eight years since Vision 2030 was first announced.
This shocking statistic is supported by details of abuse and tyrannical treatment of helpless workers in the upcoming ITV documentary Kingdom Uncovered: Inside Saudi Arabia, which airs this Sunday at 22:15pm.
The Kingdom relies primarily on a migrant labour force who head to the region in search of a better life but are often forced into brutal working conditions for very little pay.
Many allege their passports are confiscated upon arrival, meaning they cannot leave.
One of the cornerstones of the Crown Prince’s ambitious project is The Line, a scarcely believable car-free metropolis that is planned to stretch more than 100 miles through the desert (concept image)
Project chiefs say The Line will ‘redefine liveability’ and ‘transform how we live’, serving as a sustainable, inclusive example of cities for the future
Workers are dying in their thousands each year to build these projects
Construction workers stand on the edge of a vast trench being dug for The Line megacity
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Saudi law stipulates that workers should never do more than 60 hours a week.
But a worker who has been helping to build a high-speed train tunnel for two years told an ITV reporter he regularly works up to 16 hours a day.
Saudi law also says that workers should normally get one day off a week. But the worker claimed it’s ‘normal’ to work for 14 days without a day off.
Other labourers told the ITV journalist they are working up to 84 hours a week – much more than the legal maximum.
Speaking anonymously, one worker said: ‘We’re made to work extremely hard. There is little time to rest. We get tired. We suffer from anxiety day and night. Saudi doesn’t care much for citizens from other countries. We are treated like beggars.’
His testimony is supported by accounts from five other workers.
The film includes rare footage of conditions from construction sites along The Line, as the Saudi authorities carefully manage the media’s coverage of the project.
The Line is part of a wider project called NEOM, which also includes a ski resort, vast industrial area and luxury island for tourism – with Mohammed bin Salman as its chairman of the Board of Directors.
NEOM itself is just of more than a dozen mega-projects that make up the Crown Prince’s Vision 2030 – these include several new cities in the desert connected by a state-of-the-art transport system, five new airports, and the world’s tallest skyscraper.
A tunnel is seen being constructed as part of The Line project, revealed by an undercover journalist
Workers spoke anonymously to ITV undercover journalists explaining the horrific nature of the working conditions and treatment they suffer
A driver working on the project said: ‘The drivers have to work non-stop. We travel back and forth for four hours and don’t get paid for it. We don’t get enough rest. Because of the continuous work and travel, they barely get four hours sleep.
‘This lack of sleep has caused many accidents. There have been many. Just last month there were four or five cases.’
In addition to interviews with workers, the investigation tells the story of one such worker, a man from Nepal called Raju Bishwakarma, who died in Jeddah after his family and colleagues alleged he was refused proper medical treatment by his Saudi employer.
Raju’s death sparked a violent protest against the ‘carelessness’ of the company by his fellow workers, some of whom burned down buildings. The protest was captured on camera – but footage like this is rare because protest is illegal in the Kingdom.
Saudi authorities said Mr Bishwakarma’s cause of death was ‘cardiac and respiratory arrest for unknown reason’.
But his father Bharat asked: ‘Why wasn’t there an investigation by the company? What kind of hospital is it where a patient dies without any diagnosis of disease? He’d been unwell for two months.’
New data from Nepal’s Foreign Employment Board suggests that a third of the 2,000 deaths of Nepali workers in the past eight years are apparently unexplained.
Diggers and trucks work at the foundations of The Line
Pictured: Concept imagery shows an imagined sky garden looking out over the Saudi desert
A handout picture provided by Saudi’s NEOM on July 26, 2022 shows the design plan for the 500-metre tall parallel structures, known collectively as The Line
Salman is hoping to create a desert metropolis known as NEOM. Pictured: NEOM’s ‘Oxagon’ – a futuristic port city – is seen in concept imagery
Pictured: Construction workers are seen operating excavators in drone footage captured in 2022 when The Line project began
A concept image shows an artist’s rendering of what the interior of The Line would look like
The journalist filmed with another group of labourers, some of whom say they have not been paid by their employer for 10 months and now depend on donated food to live.
Over 100 workers are living in a ‘ camp without electricity or water for most of the time. The company they are working for has more than a dozen Government contracts.
‘The company has our passports, and just don’t give them back. So, there’s no work and they don’t give us our money,’ said one worker.
‘We feel trapped like slaves. We’re desperate to see our wives and kids,’ another said.
‘His child was getting married. He pleaded with them to let him go but they didn’t. If someone’s father dies, they won’t let them go. If someone’s child dies, they won’t let them go. We are living a suffocating life here.’
The workers only speak anonymously – and for good reason. Elsewhere another worker explained to the reporter he was jailed after complaining about similar treatment on social media.
‘My tweet went viral, They said my tweet was not okay. That here in Saudi, that’s forbidden. They took away my mobile phone and shut down my social media account,’ the man said.
His colleagues declared: ‘That’s why we don’t share things on Facebook. We’re all scared.’
Nicholas McGeehan, director at human rights organisation FairSquare, said: ‘These working hours are way beyond what the international minimum standards permit.
The reality is that workers all over Saudi Arabia are subject to deeply abusive and dangerous exploitation. The abuses are systematically happening across the country.’
In 2021, the Saudi government said it had reformed labour laws to prevent the sort of abuse these men say they’re suffering.
The allegations in the film were put to the Saudi Government, but it did not reply.
In a statement NEOM said: ‘We are assessing the claims made in this programme and, where required, will take appropriate action.
‘We require all contractors and subcontractors to comply with NEOM’s Code of Conduct, based on the laws of Saudi Arabia and the policies of the International Labour Organisation, and they are subject to frequent inspections of their workers’ living and working conditions.’
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman announces ‘The Line’ to be built at NEOM in northwestern Saudi Arabia
Workers say accidents regularly occur due to the poor working conditions, lack of safety regulations and exhaustion
The body of one worker who died is buried
McGeehan added: ‘One of the key reasons why we do not know why migrant workers are dying in Saudi Arabia is that death certificates are marked with things like ”natural causes” or ”cardiac arrest” or ”acute respiratory failure”.
‘These terms don’t actually explain how someone has died. Cardiac arrest just means your heart stopped. It doesn’t say how or why your heart stopped. We still don’t know how they’re dying.
‘But we know that the heat and humidity… abusive living and working conditions, inability to access the health care system – all of these things combine to quite drastic effect.’
Nepali human rights lawyer Anurag Devkota said: ‘Migrant workers are leaving this country every day, for a better future for their family members and a better future for their country. But in return, what we are getting is the dead bodies in the wooden boxes.’
In addition to the construction of NEOM and other wild projects, Saudi Arabia is set to need yet more migrants to prepare for the 2034 FIFA World Cup.
The Kingdom is the sole bidder for the rights to host the tournament and is expected to be confirmed in December.
Nicholas McGeehan said: ‘The notion that you would award a high-profile tournament like the World Cup to a country where these very serious abuses are endemic and structural is appalling. It shouldn’t be considered. It shouldn’t even be on the table.’
FIFA told the programme human rights is a ‘priority area when it comes to evaluating World Cup bids’.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is ruthlessly ploughing ahead with his Vision 2030 project
Manahel Al-Otaibi was sentenced in 2024 to 11 years in prison by a counterterrorism court over tweets she’d sent in favour of women’s rights and images of herself she’d posted wearing clothes that the authorities said were ‘immodest’
Some women in Saudi Arabia have stopped wearing the abaya, a long over-garment, when they leave the house. Pictured is Mashael al-Jaloud, right, wearing western clothes at a mall in Riyadh as she walks next to four women wearing niqabs
Saudi Manahel al-Otaibi, 30, was jailed for 11 years after posting about female empowerment on social media
Besides exposing the plight of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, the ITV investigation includes the first TV interview with the sister of a Saudi fitness instructor who was jailed for over a decade after posting in favour of women’s rights on social media.
Manahel Al-Otaibi was sentenced in 2024 to 11 years in prison by a counterterrorism court over tweets she’d sent in favour of women’s rights and images of herself she’d posted wearing clothes that the authorities said were ‘immodest’.
Her sister Fawzia, who lives in Edinburgh and is seeking asylum, describes how in March 2018, Mohammed bin Salman spoke in favour of women’s rights and said on TV that he didn’t mind women going out without wearing the abaya in public provided their clothes were decent and respectful.
Encouraged by his reforms, the sisters called for more legislation to further advance women’s rights.
But as they began to attract attention, they discovered some in the government disapproved.
Fawzia said: ‘Government officials started coming to visit my parents telling them, ”Stop your daughters. If they speak out, we’ll need to take the necessary measures as they’re spreading dissent across the homeland”.
‘That’s when we realised there’s danger in women’s rights activism.’
Fawzia describes how she was called in by the police and threatened with prison after she posted a video of herself dancing at a music festival in Riyadh.
‘They said my dancing was ”sexually suggestive” and ”indecent” – Words that really don’t describe the reality of the situation. A happy girl excited at a party… turned into a crime,’ she said.
Fawzia decided to leave Saudi, but Manahel stayed and continued to campaign for women’s rights.
In 2022, Manahel was called in by the police, handcuffed and taken to Al-Malaz Prison in Riyadh.
‘The family is heartbroken, especially since this was happening over something considered permissible by the state. I realise now that the changes weren’t real. It was just propaganda for the foreign media but I found out too late.’
Fawzia said that she’s heard her sister ‘is being starved, that Manahel has become skin and bone.’
Manahel told her family at the end of September that she’d been stabbed in the face in prison, and required stitches. Her family say they tried to report the attack to the Saudi authorities but were ignored.
- Kingdom Uncovered: Inside Saudi Arabia airs 10:15pm on Sunday, Oct. 27 on ITV