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Reuters
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to host the conference
A website for a future conference in Saudi Arabia is inaccessible after apparently being attacked by pirates.
Images circulating on Twitter show the Future Investment Initiative website with a simulated photo of the country's leader about to execute Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Messages on the photo accuse the Saudi government of financing terrorism.
The summit has seen a series of notorious dropouts amid allegations that the country was behind the murder of Khashoggi.
Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the Saudi government, disappeared on October 2 after going to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where Turkish officials allege that he was murdered.
Earlier Monday, Saudi Arabia blamed Khashoggi's death for a "fraudulent operation"
Nicknamed the "Davos of the Desert", this three-day event that will be held from October 23 to 25 in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, is organized by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. It offers businesses the opportunity to build relationships and obtain lucrative contracts in the Kingdom. .
Dropouts increase
It is organized by Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman to promote his reform program.
Politicians and businessmen from Europe, North America and Asia were on the list of participants, bringing together 150 speakers from 140 organizations.
But many big names withdrew, claiming that Saudi Arabia's explanation of Khashoggi's disappearance was not credible.
US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and UK Trade Secretary Liam Fox, whose countries have huge defense agreements with Saudi Arabia, have already pulled out of the summit.
The company's executives, including John Flint, chief executive of HSBC, Jamie Dimon, managing director of JP Morgan, and Bill Winters, managing director of Standard Chartered, also announced that they would not attend the meeting.
Ford automaker, the Uber app and newspaper companies, including Bloomberg, CNN and the Financial Times, have also canceled plans to attend.
On Monday, Siemens boss Joe Kaeser was the last high-ranking name to withdraw from the conference, claiming that the official explanation of Khashoggi's murder was "hard to believe".
The organizers removed a list of speakers from the conference website. On Monday, they refused to confirm the number of people present.
A government source said the list of speakers and moderators had not been finalized yet, with many continuing to drop out at a rapid pace.
The World Economic Forum, which organizes each year in January the official high-level gathering in the Swiss seaside resort of Davos, has opposed the use of the Davos brand by the Saudi Summit.
He said that he would use "every means to protect the Davos brand against misappropriation".
