🔗 Share this article

Saudi Arabia has permitted US citizen Saad Almadi to return home to Florida, five months ahead of the planned removal of travel bans and a day after Saudi crown prince and head of government met Donald Trump at the White House.

Legal Case Overview

Almadi, seventy-five, was given 19 years of imprisonment in the kingdom in 2021 after he posted 14 tweets opposing the Riyadh government. Two years later, the allegations were modified to so-called "cyber crimes" and he was sentenced to a 30-year ban on leaving Saudi Arabia.

"Our family rejoices that, after four long years, our father, Saad Almadi, is finally 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 allowed to depart the country came after the US president delivered a speech touting US-Saudi ties, including arms sales and financial agreements.

Diplomatic Acknowledgments

"This moment 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 national security council, as well as everyone at the state department," it added.

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 later posted on social media that his father was traveling to the US.

Broader Context

Almadi is one of a small number of American dual citizens facing travel restrictions from Saudi Arabia following a clampdown on digital criticism. His son has previously claimed that Almadi was coerced to sign papers renouncing his US citizenship.

The case against Almadi focused 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.

More controversially, he expressed approval for the renaming of a street in the US capital after Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist and Washington Post columnist killed 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.

Questioned regarding the killing, Trump said the crown prince "knew nothing" of Khashoggi's killing. The Saudi crown prince has maintained his innocence. He said at the White House that Saudi Arabia "took appropriate measures" to investigate Khashoggi's death, which he called "painful" and a "major error".

International Efforts

US diplomatic efforts to free Almadi and allow him to return to the US has been increasing since Trump's trip to Saudi Arabia in May. Many appealed to Trump's assertion that he is particularly effective 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 security advisors, 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 win your father back," Johnson said.