Gates Foundation suspends work with Saudi crown prince's charity after Khashoggi death
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation plans to suspend any future work with a nonprofit chaired by Saudi Arabia's crown prince amid international uproar about the death of a prominent journalist and outspoken critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Saudi Arabia sparked international outrage -- even from traditional allies like the U.S. (Vice President Mike Pence vowed the death would not “go without an American response”) -- after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, in its Istanbul consulate early last month.
Although Saudi officials initially said Khashoggi had left the building and did not know what happened to him, the government eventually admitted he had died inside of the consulate in a premeditated attack. “Jamal Khashoggi’s abduction and murder are extremely troubling,” a spokeswoman for the Gates Foundation told The Wall Street Journal. “We’re observing current events with concern.”
A spokeswoman for the Gates Foundation deferred comment to the Wall Street Journal article. Last November, the Gates Foundation partnered with the Misk Foundation to launch the $10 million Grand Challenges, an initiative that offers grants to young people around the world for health and development innovations. The crown prince first launched the Misk Foundation in 2011.
"We would like to thank the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for their support in launching the Misk Grand Challenges last year," a spokesperson for the Misk Foundation said in a statement to FOX Business. "We hope to work with them again in the future."
Both the Gates and Misk Foundations intended to give $5 million to the program over the course of three years. Although the Gates Foundation completed its first round of $.15 million in funding, it will not donate anymore, according to the Journal, which cited an anonymous spokeswoman for the Gates Foundation.
“The current situation was a factor in our decision to hold off on future rounds,” she said.
Bill Gates, the billionaire philanthropist and founder of Microsoft, met with the crown prince in March at his home in Seattle to review aspects of cooperation on a number of joint development programs with Saudi Arabia.