In 2020, the online news organization The Intercept revealed that HRW’s then-Executive Director, Ken Roth, accepted a $470,000 donation from a Saudi billionaire based on the condition that HRW would not use the money to protect the rights of the persecuted LGBTQ-plus community in the Middle East.
Roth was compelled to return the donation after The Intercept report.
I’m not sure if it’s clear that there was an additional previous incident with HRW accepting money from Saudi Arabia. It’s not a long article, and it’s not behind a paywall. The current issue is potentially much more damning, accepting millions, not just hundreds of thousands, and this time from Qatar, which has an arguably worse human rights record than Saudi Arabia. Remember all those workers (slaves?) who died to build the World Cup facilities?
Always helps to read the article before posting. 😉