Saudi Arabia releases American citizen sentenced to 19 years in prison for tweets critical of kingdom

Saudi Arabia on Monday released an American citizen after he had been imprisoned for more than a year, serving a 19-year sentence, for his old tweets critical of the kingdom's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a 72-year-old retired project manager who resided in Florida was apprehended in November 2021 while visiting family in the kingdom.

Saudi officials reportedly dropped all charges againstAlmadi but it was unclear if he would be allowed to travel back to the US, due to a travel ban imposed on him following the prison sentence.

Almadi's sonIbrahim al Madi informed that his father had stayed home with family members based in Riyadh on Monday night.

“I welcome the release of Saad Almadi, my father and best friend,” Ibrahim said. “As I always say, we are the strongest country in the world. We can protect our interests and citizens.”

“Our fight is not over until Saad is back…He needs medical attention in the states.”

Almadi was arrested and later convicted regarding 14 of his tweets, over the last eight years where he remained critical of Saudi Arabia and its policies. In one of the tweets,Almadi approved of Washington renaming a street after 'murdered' Washington Post journalistJamal Khashoggi.

In another tweet,he encouraged fellow Saudis to accept Lebanese citizenship. Some other statements ofcriticised the Saudi government’s policies and the corruption in the Saudi system.

After Almadi visited the kingdom, the authorities quickly arrested and charged him with harbouring a terrorist ideology, supporting and funding terrorism andattempting to destabilise the kingdom.

In October 2022, the Saudi court sentenced him to 16 years in prison on top of a 16-year travel ban. Puzzlingly enough, three additional years were added to his sentence last month which makes his sudden release a mystery.

Some experts have suggested that the recent upswing in US-Saudi relations may have been the reason for Almadi's premature release. The US senate last week confirmedMichael Ratney as the envoy to Riyadh, two years after the post was left vacant.

Additionally, US plane maker Boeing last Tuesday signed a deal to sell 121 jets to kickstart Saudi airline Riyadh Air and national carrier Saudia Airlines.

(With inputs from agencies)

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