The journalist who vanished last week after entering the Saudi Consulate in Turkey was working on launching an organization that would promote democracy in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, a report said Wednesday.

Jamal Khashoggi, a contributing writer to the Washington Post who was highly critical of the Saudi government, was expected to head up the group, called Democracy for the Arab World Now, the Daily Beast reported.

The Saudi-born writer disappeared after walking into the consulate on Oct. 2, and Turkish officials believe he was killed and his body removed from the building.

Saudi Arabia called the accusations “baseless.”

The group’s members planned to lobby corporate leaders, policymakers, journalists and think tanks on behalf of democracy and human rights in the region.

“Victims of the Arab world’s authoritarian regimes seek leadership from the U.S. and DAWN intends to provide such leadership,” the organization wrote in a statement listing its core principles.

Fred Hiatt, the editorial page editor of the Washington Post, said the newspaper was aware that Khashoggi was working to promote democracy in the Middle East.

“We knew of Jamal’s interest in building platforms to promote the discussion of issues that he is passionate about, notably freedom and democracy in the Middle East,” he told the Daily Beast.