Khashoggi Fiancée Asks Bieber to Cancel Saudi Concert
Hatice Cengiz, the fiancée of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, has asked Justin Bieber to cancel an upcoming concert in Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi is believed to have been murdered on the orders of a member of Saudi Arabia's royal family.
Cengiz wrote a plea to the singer in The Washington Post, urging him to cancel his December 5 concert at the first Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah. Cengiz said canceling would "send a powerful message" that Bieber would not let his name be used to improve the reputation of a country that murders its critics.
As a writer for The Washington Post, Khashoggi frequently criticized the Saudi government, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in particular. Salman is the son of the Saudi king, and considered the de facto ruler of the country.
On October 2, 2018, Khashoggi was murdered by a group of Saudi agents in the country's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. While Saudi Arabia has blamed the murder on a "rogue operation" by agents sent to bring the journalist back to the country, a US intelligence report concluded that Salman had approved a plan to capture or kill Khashoggi. A separate UN report also concluded that Salman must at least have been aware of the operation.
Bieber is scheduled to perform along with other artists such as ASAP Rocky, David Guetta and Jason Derulo.
Human Rights Watch has also called on all the artists to cancel their appearances. The organization said that Saudi Arabia has a history of using celebrities to try to whitewash its human rights abuses, and that the artists should speak out against the country's government instead of trying to help it.
Bieber's concert is not the only event in Saudi Arabia to be criticized due to Khashoggi's murder. In 2018, World Wrestling Entertainment received criticism for holding its Crown Jewel pay-per-view show in Riyadh on November 2, exactly one month after the murder. The controversy led popular wrestlers John Cena and Daniel Bryan to boycott the event.
