Hey @Uber: Kick the Saudi Dictator Off Your Board of Directors

Saudi Arabia is ruled by a brutal dictatorship that is destroying the planet with its massive oil exports. This dictatorship has invested $3.5 billion in Uber, and a representative of the dictator sits on the Uber board of directors.

In a new interview with "Axios on HBO," Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi called the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi "a mistake" and compared it to Uber mistakes with self-driving cars.

Khashoggi's death wasn't a "mistake" -- it was a murder.

The person responsible for that murder is Saudi dictator Mohammed bin Salman, one of Uber's biggest shareholders through his Saudi Public Investment Fund.

In his interview, Uber's CEO suggested that he did not know that the CIA had concluded that Saudi Arabia's dictator was directly involved in Khashoggi's murder.

Facing public backlash, the Uber CEO later backtracked from his comments to Axios, issuing a written statement: "I said something in the moment that I do not believe. When it comes to Jamal Khashoggi, his murder was reprehensible and should not be forgotten or excused."

But Uber's ties to the Saudi dictatorship go beyond the Uber CEO's on-air defense of the murder of Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia's dictatorship has placed Yasir Al-Rumayyan on the Uber board of directors. Al-Rumayyan is the managing director of the Saudi dictatorship's Public Investment Fund.

Uber must remove the Saudi dictatorship from the Uber board and end the dictatorship's investments in the company. In addition to murdering Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi dictatorship has slaughtered thousands of civilians in Yemen, imprisoned women's rights activists, and jailed countless nonviolent human rights reformers.

1. "Governance, Uber Board of Directors," https://investor.uber.com/governance/default.aspx#bod

2. "Uber CEO calls Saudi murder of Khashoggi 'a mistake,' scrambles to backtrack," Axios, November 11, 2019, https://www.axios.com/uber-ceo-saudi-arabia-jamal-khashoggi-mistake-92865f2a-d97c-4d6a-b171-5e7c0a69e77a.html

3. "Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5 Billion Cash Infusion," Mike Isaac and Michael J. de la Merced, The New York Times, June 1, 2016,
https://www. nytimes.com/2016/06/02/technology/uber-investment-saudi-arabia.html