Saudi Arabia has permitted US citizen Saad Almadi to come back to Florida, five months ahead of the scheduled lifting of travel bans and a day after Saudi crown prince and prime minister met Donald Trump at the White House.
Legal Case Overview
Almadi, 75, was given 19 years of imprisonment in the kingdom in 2021 after he posted 14 tweets opposing the Riyadh government. Two years later, the charges were reduced to termed "cyber crimes" and he was given a 30-year ban on leaving Saudi Arabia.
"Our family is overjoyed that, after four long years, our father, Saad Almadi, is at last on his way home to the United States!"
The announcement that Almadi, a person with dual nationality and retired engineer who had lived in the US since the 1970s, would be free to leave the country came after the US president gave an address touting US-Saudi ties, including weapons deals and financial agreements.
Diplomatic Acknowledgments
"This day would not have been possible without President Donald Trump and the tireless efforts of his administration. We are deeply grateful to Dr Sebastian Gorka and the team at the security advisory board, as well as everyone at the foreign affairs office," the statement continued.
The declaration by Almadi's son, Ibrahim Almadi, also expressed gratitude to various non-profit organizations, including the James Foley Fund and Hostages America, and House speaker Mike Johnson for backing the older Almadi's cause. He subsequently shared on social media that his father was on his way to the US.
Wider Implications
Almadi is one of a small number of American people with dual nationality facing exit bans from Saudi Arabia following a clampdown on online dissent. His son has previously claimed that Almadi was coerced to sign papers renouncing his US citizenship.
The legal proceedings involving Almadi centered on social media posts in which he was alleged to have urged Saudi citizens to seek Lebanese citizenship and criticized the kingdom's defenses against Houthi rocket strikes.
Additionally, he supported the rededication of a street in the US capital after Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist and Washington Post columnist murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
Related Incident
US intelligence reports published by the Biden administration later assessed that the crown prince had approved of a plan to "detain or eliminate" Khashoggi.
Asked about the killing, Trump said the crown prince "was unaware" of Khashoggi's killing. The Saudi crown prince has denied any wrongdoing. He said at the White House that Saudi Arabia "did all the right things" to investigate Khashoggi's death, which he called "painful" and a "major error".
International Efforts
US pressure to free Almadi and allow him to come back to the US has been increasing since Trump's trip to Saudi Arabia in May. Many urged Trump's claim that he is uniquely successful in repatriating US citizens held overseas.
When asked by a reporter in May about the case, Trump said he didn't know about it but vowed to investigate. A few weeks later, one of his national security aides, Gorka, met the son at the White House.
"President Trump is the president of deals and he loves to do business with the Saudis and we will secure your father's release," Johnson said.
