Saudi Businessman Collapses in the Middle of Speech, Dies

Saudi diplomat or ambassador?

Egyptian blogger Abdullah ELshrif was among the first to report on Twitter that Saudi businessman Mohammed Al-Qahtani collapsed and died in the middle of a speech in Cairo at an Arab-African conference.

News reports later said that Al-Qahtani was first attended to by the hotel doctor of the conference venue and then transported to a hospital where he was definitively pronounced dead.

A video on YouTube shows another angle with a closer and clearer view of his face. It’s at the 1:38 mark where he collapses quite abruptly.

His Emirati wife Dr. Aisha al-Jabri was at the panelists’ table behind him while he was speaking. They had been seated next to each other before he rose for the speech. The man on the large poster that Al-Qahtani repeatedly pointed to is Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the current president of Egypt.

In his speech, the Saudi businessman spoke about death, then praised Sisi and King Salman, and described Muhammad bin Zayed, the ruler of Abu Dhabi, and then fell dead.

Mohammed Al-Qahtani Cairo Conference

English-language media outlets have mistakenly reported the deceased man as being a Saudi diplomat or ambassador, presumably due to a poor translation provided by Google from Arabic.

Saudi ambassador or diplomat who collapsed?

Mohammed Al-Qahtani is an investor known for his work in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The conference he was attending in Egypt has been canceled.

Arabic-language news source: eremnews.com/entertainment/2397609