October 23, 2018•Update: October 23, 2018
RIYADH
The website of an international Saudi investment conference hosted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been attacked by hackers.
On the homepage of the 'Future Investment Initiative' website, hackers posted a fake image showing bin Salman holding a sword standing behind the murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The conference, nicknamed Davos in the Desert and slated to run Oct. 23 - 25, is bin Salman's attempt to diversify the country's oil-based economy.
His plans, however, have become disrupted amid global outcry about Khashoggi's killing inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Screenshots of the hacked website show the message: "Saudi regime is one of the sources for #Terrorism_Financing in the world."
"For the sake of security for children worldwide, we urge all countries to put sanctions on the Saudi regime,” the message stated.
"The regime, aligned with the United States, must be kept responsible for its barbaric and inhuman action, such as killing its own citizen Jamal Khashoggi and thousands of innocent people in Yemen. The medieval Saudi regime is one of the sources of #Terrorism_Financing in the world."
Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, had gone missing since entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.
After denying knowledge of Khashoggi's whereabouts for two weeks, Saudi Arabia on Saturday said he was killed during a "brawl" inside the consulate.
His body has not been recovered, nor has Saudi Arabia explained its shifting narrative on what transpired.
Reporting by Hussein Mahmoud Ragab Elkabany, Hamdi Yildiz and Esat Firat:Writing by Can Erozden
