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Two Major US Museums Refuse to Use Saudi Funds Amid Khashoggi Case - Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The US Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum have decided to cease 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, The New York Times reported.
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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.

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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.

On 18, US President Donald Trump noted that he thought Khashoggi was dead.

READ MORE: Saudi Leaders May Blame Senior Official for Khashoggi's Disappearance — Reports

Saudi Arabia Unlikely Would Reconsider Contracts with US Companies - Analyst
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.

Jamal Khashoggi, 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, the accusation that it fiercely denied by Saudi Arabia.

READ MORE: UK, US Ministers Quit Saudi Summit Over Khashoggi Disappearance

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

The Saudi officials claim that the journalist has left the building and deny any involvement in his disappearing. 

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