American-Saudi dual citizen released from Saudi Arabian prison over tweets he sent from US

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An American-Saudi citizen was released from a Saudi Arabian prison despite a 16-year prison sentence for tweeting criticisms of the Saudi regime while living in the United States. His conviction sparked debates around President Joe Biden’s foreign policy goals and U.S. interests in Saudi Arabia. Although he has been released, he remains in Saudi Arabia under travel restrictions.

Key Players 

Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a 72-year-old American/Saudi dual citizen of Saudi origin, has lived in the United States since the 1970s. He attended an American college and worked as a project manager in Orlando, Florida, until his retirement. An avid user of social media, he posted on Twitter to share life updates, news, and political opinions. 

Mohammed bin Salman, known colloquially as MBS, was appointed crown prince in 2017 and became Saudi Arabia’s prime minister in 2022. He has publicly committed himself to modernizing the country and loosening its historic ties to orthodox Islam, leading initiatives to relax social restrictions such as changing the country’s public dress code and allowing women to obtain driver’s licenses. Simultaneously, under MBS, the regime has repressed dissidents, notably orchestrating the extrajudicial killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist and government critic, in 2018.

Ibrahim Almadi, Saad Almadi’s son, has been communicating with his father and the U.S. Department of State since Almadi’s arrest.

Further Details

In November 2021, Saad Ibrahim Almadi traveled to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for two weeks to visit family. When he arrived at the airport, he was immediately arrested and detained by the Saudi government in connection with 14 tweets he had sent over the previous seven years. Saudi agents held him in a hotel while searching his phone, his son told The Guardian.

The tweets that brought about Almadi’s detention, which were posted in the United States, were mostly replies to Saudi Arabian dissidents who had tweeted about MBS’s actions. Some referenced government corruption, and one specifically mentioned Khashoggi’s murder. 

Madawi Al-Rasheed, a known critic of the Saudi regime, tweeted about the fading “prestige” of the Saudi government. In response, Almadi wrote, “And Mohammed bin Salman took control of the economy and defense and was under the king’s hand.”

Ibrahim Almadi told The Guardian that he believed an app called Kollona Amn, or “We Are All Security,” was responsible for outing his father. The platform advertises as a security reporting service; information from it was used to convict Salma al-Shehab, a Saudi citizen who tweeted criticisms of the Saudi government while living in the United Kingdom, after she returned home. 

After his father’s arrest, Ibrahim Almadi told CNN, he did not hear about his detention for a month. He told The Associated Press that Saudi officials had warned him to stay quiet and not get the U.S. government involved in the matter. When his family did contact the U.S. State Department in March 2022, he said, his father was tortured. 

Since then, Ibrahim Almadi has worked with the U.S. government in an attempt to secure his father’s release. However, he said he believed the State Department has been neglectful and incompetent with the case. 

In May, six months after Saad Ibrahim Almadi was detained, an official from the U.S. embassy in Riyadh visited him for the first time. According to his son, Almadi declined help from the United States at that time, because of threats of torture from his Saudi jailers. In August, when Almadi did ask the embassy to help, he was again tortured, according to The Washington Post. 

On Oct. 3, after 11 months without a trial, Almadi was sentenced to 16 years in prison, followed by 16 years of house arrest, on charges of harboring a terrorist ideology, trying to destabilize the kingdom, and supporting and funding terrorism.

Even though Ibrahim Almadi had informed the State Department that his father’s hearing had been expedited, a senior official confirmed that the department did not relay the information to the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh in time for someone to attend it. 

“Unfortunately, that information wasn’t passed [to the embassy],” the official told The Post, adding, “That is something we deeply regret.” Therefore, no U.S. government official was present for Almadi’s hearing or sentencing. 

Outcome 

State Department continues to weigh ‘wrongfully detained’ status for Almadi

On Oct. 18, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters that the department “consistently and intensively raised our concerns regarding the case at senior levels of the Saudi government, both through channels in Riyadh and Washington, D.C., as well, and we will continue to do so.” He said the department had raised concerns “with members of the Saudi government as recently as yesterday.” 

But even though the U.S. government had expressed these concerns about Almadi’s sentencing, it had not officially designated him a “wrongfully detained” U.S. citizen. 

Such a designation would have moved Almadi’s case from the State Department’s Consular Affairs Bureau to the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, who focuses on securing the freedom of U.S. national hostages, which could offer a wider range of tools to help secure his release.

Saudi Arabia releases Almadi from prison, but he remains under a travel ban

On March 21, 2023, Almadi was released from prison at 2 a.m. local time. In an interview  with Agence France-Presse,  Almadi’s son contended that charges had been dropped against his father, but said he was unaware of the reason.

Ibrahim added that his father remains in Riyadh under a travel ban, a decision he intended to oppose, because of the elder Almadi’s back problems and diabetes. “The fight will continue,” Ibrahim said. “He needs to come get his medical treatment from the U.S.”During a press conference on the same day, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel shared that the department was aware of Almadi’s release and “welcomed the news,” but could not give more information. Saudi Arabian officials had not commented on the release as of March 25.