The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ride-sharing app Uber Dara Khosrowshahi
The chief executive officer of ride-sharing company Uber said late Thursday he will withdraw from a major business conference in Saudi Arabia as questions mount over the country’s role in the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, CNN Business reported.
"I'm very troubled by the reports to date about Jamal Khashoggi," Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement.
"We are following the situation closely, and unless a substantially different set of facts emerges, I won't be attending the FII conference in Riyadh," he added.
The report noted his announcement is significant because Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund is a big shareholder in Uber, investing $3.5 billion in the ride-hailing startup in 2016.
The Future Investment Initiative is hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and is part of his Vision 2030 plan to break the country's reliance on oil. Khosrowshahi was scheduled to speak about the future of transportation at the event, the report said.
The Washington Post on Tuesday published a surveillance image revealing missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi walking into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, just before he disappeared.The image also bore a date and time stamp reading, 2018-10-02, 13:14 p.m.The Post said "a person close to the investigation" had shared the image with them.Khashoggi, journalist and columnist for The Washington Post, has been missing since he entered the consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.Khashoggi, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Washington for the past year fearing retribution for his criticism of Saudi policies, went to the consulate last week to secure documents for his forthcoming marriage, according to his fiancée, who waited outside. He has not been heard of since.Turkish authorities believe he was murdered within the consulate walls, but the Saudi government has refused the claims and said accusations were baseless.On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urged the Saudi consulate to prove whether or not Khashoggi exited the building after entering, saying that consulate officials "can't get away with [simply] saying 'he left the building.'"Turkish police also said that 15 Saudis, including several officials, arrived in Istanbul on two planes and entered the consulate while Khashoggi was inside.Pompeo calls on Saudi govt to investigate Khashoggi disappearancePressure Saudis on Khashoggi case: Yemeni Nobel winnerSaudi Arabia must show journalist made exit: ErdoğanSaudis to pay price if journalist killed: US senatorTrump ‘concerned’ over fate of Saudi journalist
Possible last moments of missing Saudi journalist revealed
Khosrowshahi is the latest high-profile figure to pull out of the conference due to increasing concerns about Washington Post journalist Khashoggi, who was also a critic of the Saudi regime. Other big names include Viacom CEO Bob Bakish and Ariana Huffington of The Huffington Post, according to the report.
British billionaire Richard Branson said earlier Thursday that he was cutting business ties with the Saudi government over Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Branson and his Virgin Group have suspended talks with Saudi Arabia on a proposed $1 billion investment in Virgin’s space companies.
He said he would also be stepping down from his role as director of two Saudi tourism projects.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday called on the government of Saudi Arabia to support "a thorough investigation" of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance and to be transparent about the results of that investigation.The disappearance of Khashoggi, previously a prominent newspaper editor in Saudi Arabia, has sparked global concern, particularly after Turkish sources said over the weekend that authorities believed he was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Pressure Saudis on Khashoggi case: Yemeni Nobel winnerSaudi Arabia must show journalist made exit: ErdoğanSaudis to pay price if journalist killed: US senator
Pompeo calls on Saudi govt to investigate Khashoggi disappearance
The winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize on Monday called for the international community to pressure Saudi officials about a journalist's disappearance after he entered its Istanbul consulate."If [Jamal] Khashoggi is being held, we demand his immediate release," said Tawakkol Karman, a human rights activist from Yemen, Saudi Arabia’s southern neighbor."The intelligence of the Saudi regime [is] responsible," she claimed, vowing not to "keep silent about what happened to Khashoggi."Saudi Arabia must show journalist made exit: ErdoğanKhashoggi, journalist and columnist for the Washington Post, has been missing since he entered the consulate on Oct. 2.Turkish police investigating the case had said in a statement Saturday that 15 Saudis, including several officials, arrived in Istanbul on two planes and entered the consulate while Khashoggi was inside.Istanbul prosecutors are investigating the incident, while the consulate said on Twitter that it was working in coordination with Turkish authorities.Turkey on Monday said it expects "full cooperation" from Saudi authorities to locate the missing journalist.Saudis to pay price if journalist killed: US senator
Pressure Saudis on Khashoggi case: Yemeni Nobel winner
"What has reportedly happened in Turkey around the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, if proved true, would clearly change the ability of any of us in the West to do business with the Saudi Government," Branson said.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, has not been heard from since Oct. 2 when he visited the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, amid speculation he was killed by Saudi authorities.
On the same day, 15 Saudis, including several officials, arrived in Istanbul on two planes and visited the consulate while Khashoggi was also inside, police sources said. All of the identified individuals have since left Turkey.
Saudi authorities have yet to give a clear explanation of Khashoggi’s fate, while several countries -- particularly Turkey, the U.S. and the UK -- have expressed their desire that the matter should be elucidated as soon as possible.