The Saudi regime continues to market itself globally as a pioneer of renewable energy and a future leader in the green economy, but behind the grandiose propaganda lies a reality of forced labour, exploitation, and systemic abuse of vulnerable migrant workers. A new report has revealed the devastating conditions under which South Asian workers are compelled to build the very solar farms and hydrogen projects that the regime boasts of on international stages. Far from being a model of progress, these projects expose the same brutal patterns of repression and exploitation that characterise the regime’s wider treatment of foreign workers.

Testimonies from dozens of Nepali and Bangladeshi workers demonstrate a horrific picture: average salaries of only $370 a month, in some cases as low as $250, while being forced to pay recruitment fees of up to $1,600 before even arriving in the kingdom. Many described working seven days a week, without rest, in extreme desert conditions where temperatures regularly exceed 50 degrees Celsius. Instead of protection or relief, workers face wage theft and punishments for taking short breaks. Reports of fainting, nosebleeds, and even death from suspected heart attacks were documented at sites such as the NEOM Green Hydrogen Project…