(Toronto) Justin Bieber is urged by an international human rights organization to abandon his next concert in Saudi Arabia.
The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) says it sent a letter to the Canadian pop singer asking him to cancel a scheduled appearance at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on December 5 “in solidarity with the continuing suffering of the Saudi people.”
HRF described the details of the Formula 1 event, which it said was authorized and funded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman whose family was implicated in the murder of the journalist from the Washington post Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
The letter also criticizes the regime’s treatment of dissidents, the imprisonment and torture of women’s rights activists and its executions of people from the LGBTQ community.
Representatives from Justin Bieber’s management company, owned by Scooter Braun, and Universal Music Canada did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The artist, raised in Stratford, Ont., Is one of a list of artists who will be present at the Formula 1 event, alongside Tiesto, A $ AP Rocky, Jason Derulo and David Guetta.
The HRF says Justin Bieber and the other artists have “enormous media influence” which the Saudi prince “hopes to manipulate and exploit for his own benefit and to the detriment of the Saudi people.”