Rabih Alenezi

Rabih Alenezi is a former intelligence officer and Saudi Arabian dissident colonel in the Saudi Arabian police force. Known for his vocal criticism of the Saudi Arabian government, particularly Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Alenezi has been living in exile in the United Kingdom. He has made significant contributions to the discourse on human rights in Saudi Arabia, particularly with respect to the Neom project, a planned megacity in the desert. His allegations of human rights violations and his personal experiences have brought international attention to the issue. Despite facing numerous threats, Col. Alenezi continues to speak out against oppression and advocate for human rights. According to Human Rights Watch, hundreds of migrants are said to have been shot dead as a result of MBS order on the border with Yemen. In the ZDF interview (Second German Television), Col. Rabih reports on an order that has been carried out for three years: In 2020, a killing order came from Prince Mohammed bin Salman himself. The order says to kill anyone who comes near the Saudi border, any person near the border is considered a terrorist and must be neutralized immediately.

Early life and career
Alenezi studied both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the UK. In addition to that, he worked with American police officers and studied security in Phoenix the capital city of Arizona in United States. He also served as a senior official in Saudi Arabia's security service for two decades. During his tenure, he claims he was ordered to commit human rights abuses.

Defection and asylum
Col. Alenezi defected from Saudi Arabia's General Directorate of Public Security. He requested asylum in the UK after he claimed he had been ordered to commit human rights abuses. He announced his defection and began speaking out online.

Threats and fears
Since his defection, Alenezi has received numerous death threats. He was receiving an average of 50 death threats a week. The Saudi royal court reportedly had a $250,000 (£200,000) bounty on his head. He fears for his life and lives in hiding.

Col. Alenezi, who carries a diplomatic passport, arrived in London in February 2023, but doesn’t feel safe. He feared he could be killed in the same way as Jamal Khashoggi, a vocal critic of the Saudi regime and Washington Post journalist, who was murdered inside the Saudi embassy in Istanbul in 2018.

According to BBC, Col Alenezi is now based in the UK but still fears for his security. He says an intelligence officer told him that he would be offered $5M (£4M) if he attended a meeting at London's Saudi embassy with the Saudi interior minister but he refused.

Activism
Col. Alenezi has used his platform to speak out against Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He has gained a huge following online and lives on donations from his followers.

Involvement in the Neom project
Col. Alenezi has made numerous allegations of human rights abuses he was asked to carry out, including the Saudi Interior Ministry's order to crack down on the Howeitat tribe in Tabuk province in 2020, Prince Mohammed's Location of pet project Neom, a planned megacity. in the desert. He claimed that Saudi authorities authorized the use of lethal force to clear land for the Neom project. Speaking to Dezeen, Col Alenezi urged companies involved in the project to withdraw from it. "I think Neom firms should pull out of this contentious project immediately lest they be implicated in Saudi Arabian human rights abuses," he said. "I assume that all businesses consider the values of human rights. In Saudi Arabia, there are blatant violations of human rights and systematic oppression of civilians," he continued. "I would like to remind architects that housing is an inalienable human right and that it is not rational to demolish entire towns and force their inhabitants to flee in the name of a wild, impractical plan."