Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s reported March visit to MIT should be cancelled. If the visit is not cancelled, MIT will likely be the target of protests, damaging MIT’s reputation. A list of organizations which have called for protests of MBS’ proposed visit to MIT is here.  

Mohammed bin Salman [MBS] is the chief architect of the ongoing Saudi bombardment and blockade of Yemen. MBS’ bombardment and blockade of Yemen has created the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy has accused the Saudi government of “deliberately trying to create a famine inside Yemen.” On February 8, Newsweek reported that while MBS claims he is giving Saudi women more rights, arrests of women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia are increasing, with harsher punishments, including torture.

Saudi obstruction of commercial imports to Yemen continues to exacerbate the crisis, the Norwegian Refugee Council reports. A recently published report by a UN panel of experts found that the Saudi blockade on humanitarian and commercial goods “is essentially using the threat of starvation as a bargaining tool and an instrument of war.” Saudi restrictions on imports at Hodeida Port are having a particularly detrimental effect on the humanitarian situation, NRC said. Based on data from the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism for Yemen, NRC calculates that fuel imports have constituted only 32% of the estimated amount required this year so far.

MIT should not damage its reputation by associating itself with "deliberate famine" nor "using the threat of starvation as an instrument of war." MBS' visit to MIT should be cancelled.