Three men in Saudi Arabia have been sentenced to death after daring to oppose plans to build a mega-city on their tribal land in the Saudi Arabian desert.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud unveiled flashy plans to build a 170-kilometre-long crystal palace in the Red Sea region. The $750 billion Neom smart city project - nicknamed “The Line” - is meant to be 33 times larger than New York and will be a “zero-carbon”, hi-tech home for nine million people.

The land to be used for development has long since had traditional owners, the Huwaitat tribe.

But experts have warned that anyone who opposes the build faces the “imminent risk of execution”. The three sentenced to death - Shadli Ahmed Mahmoud al-Huwaiti, Ibrahim al-Huwaiti and Ataullah al-Huwaiti - are all members of the Huwaitat tribe.

The men were arrested for “resisting forced evictions”, with three other men arrested and sentenced to between 27 and 50 years in prison for similar offences.

The charges were laid in 2020. They were convicted last August, and their appeals were rejected in late January.

In 2020, a Huwaitat tribe member was shot dead after he refused to give up his land for the project. Abdul Rahim al-Howeitat was killed by Saudi special forces in April 2020 after he criticised the compulsory eviction in his final social media post, in which he accused Saudi Arabia of “state terrorism”.

Human rights experts have demanded an investigation after allegations came to light stating detainees had been tortured to extract confessions of terrorism.

“The Saudi kingdom severely punishes citizens who dare to express public criticism of the government,” says the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre.

The United Nations has spoken out, with its “independent human rights experts” claiming the charges of terrorism and the sentence were in direct violation of international law.

 “Under international law, states that have not yet abolished the death penalty may only impose it for the ‘most serious crimes’, involving intentional killing,” the UN experts said in a press release.

“We do not believe the actions in question meet this threshold.”

Crown Prince Mohammed is the chairman of the Neom project and personally released the design of The Line, claiming to be “committed to civilisational revolution”. He says The Line will “tackle the challenges facing humanity” and “shine a light on new ways to live”.

The structure will include an airport, high-speed trains and other structural infrastructure.

Critics claim placing a crystal structure in the desert will impact local wildlife and will put pressure on the water system.

According to the UN, Saudi authorities are allegedly illegally displacing Huwaitat tribe members from their homes in three villages, often without adequate compensation, and violently cracking down on those who peacefully oppose them.

The Crown Prince has been under the spotlight recently after Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered on his orders.

In Saudi Arabia, any form of opposition to the royal family is punishable by death or lengthy jail sentences.