“They want to behave like that because they need to wash their face,” says Zeinab Abu al-Kheir, whose brother has been on death row in a Saudi prison since 2014 on alleged drug smuggling charges. Through human rights group Reprieve, she wrote a letter this month to former PGA Tour star Greg Norman, LIV Golf’s chief executive and commissioner, calling for Norman to demand an end to capital punishment in the kingdom. Norman didn’t reply, nor did anyone else at LIV.
At Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, an island of lush green in an ocean of desert brown, LIV staffers wear shorts and skirts, historically frowned upon in Saudi. They insist this is the real Saudi — safe, friendly, less restrictive than western media suggests — and facilitate interviews with anyone who helps spread the good news.
“You are American,” al-Kheir points out. “They want to hide this, what they are doing, and give the world the show that they are nice and they are changed. They change, yes. But it is still not enough.”
Read the full story at the Washington Post.