Saudi Regime Sentences U.S. Citizen Saad Almadi to 16 Years in Prison Over Tweets
United States ally Saudi Arabia has sentenced 72- year-old U.S. citizen Saad Ibrahim Almadi to 16 years in prison due to tweets he posted while in the United States, some of which were critical of the Saudi Regime.
Almadi was traveling from Florida to Riyadh visiting family when he was taken from the airport. His son says he believes his father is being tortured and the State Department has mishandled the case.
Almadi, a project manager from Florida, was detained in Riyadh last November for the 14 tweets he posted over seven years while in the United States, some of which criticized Saudi corruption as well as referenced Jamal Khashoggi who was murdered by Saudi agents in Istanbul in 2018.
The charges against Almadi were: harboring a terrorist ideology, destabilizing the kingdom and supporting and funding terrorism.
If Almadi serves his whole sentence, he would leave prison at the age of 87 but the 16 year travel ban on top of his charges would mean that he could return back to the United States when he is 104 years old.
The U.S State Department has shown little concern over this arrest, while Almadi’s son Ibrahim has been pressing for hearings and intervention. Six of the eleven criteria have been met to classify Almadi’s arrest as “wrongfully detained” but the answer being given by U.S. State Department has been “it is under consideration” for the past eleven months.
The Biden administration has rallied for the release of prisoners from Russia, Venezuela and Iran, but has taken a backseat when it comes to U.S. prisoners detained and tortured in Saudi Arabia.
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