Two Major US Museums Abandon Saudi Money Amid Khashoggi Disappearance - Reports

The US Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum have decided to abandon the use of Saudi funds for events that had been backed by groups close to the Middle Eastern country's government following the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, media reported

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2018) The US Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum have decided to abandon the use of Saudi funds for events that had been backed by groups close to the middle Eastern country's government following the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, media reported.

The decision concerns the three-months exhibition about Syrian refugees, which has begun earlier in October in the Brooklyn Museum, and a seminar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, slated for the next week, according to The New York Times.

Both programs were part of the New York Arab Art & education Initiative, the outlet added.

"While this conversation and a subsequent public colloquium were to be supported by external funds, in light of recent developments we have decided that the Museum will itself fund this event," Daniel Weiss, the Metropolitan Museum's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement, as quoted by The New York Times.

According to the newspaper, the museum had accepted less than $20,000 for the seminar and was considering what to do with the funds.

The Brooklyn Museum stated, in its turn, said it would not use the Saudi money to fund the exhibition "Syria, Then and Now: Stories from Refugees a Century Apart" in light of international community's concerns about Khashoggi's disappearance.

Khashoggi, who has been known for his criticism of Saudi Arabian authorities, and has recently been working as a columnist for The Washington Post, went missing on October 2. The journalist was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Riyadh is investigating into the journalist's disappearance together with Ankara which has claimed that the journalist was killed by the Saudi authorities, something denied by Saudi Arabia.

Media reported that Turkey has shared with the United States audio and video recordings suggesting the journalist had been murdered inside the Saudi consulate.

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said that he thought Khashoggi was dead.

US companies and officials have been withdrawing from projects and events related to Riyadh in the wake of the disappearance of the Saudi journalist and emerging claims that the Saudi government was complicit in his murder.