Neom's push for foreign investment is getting trickier after allegations of Saudi brutality

• Saudi Arabia needs foreign businesses to help it realize its Neom megacity project.
• But it's facing a backlash over its human rights record. 
• The BBC reported that Saudi officials were given a license to use lethal force to clear land. 

The images of the planned Saudi desert megacity of Neom depict a futuristic utopia.

It is billed as a paradise for foreign investors as well as the people who will live there.

But underneath the image is a far darker reality, say campaigners, which could threaten the foreign cash and expertise Saudi Arabia needs to realize its ambitions.

Last week, some of the darkness burst to the fore.