Saudi Arabia Releases Jailed US Citizen Following Trump, Crown Prince Mohammed Meeting
Saudi Arabia has released a United States citizen who was jailed over social media posts critical of the royal family after President Trump’s meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
Saad Almadi, 75, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1976, was arrested in 2021 during a family visit over his remarks online. Heย was sentenced to more than 19 yearsย on terrorism charges but was released in 2023 and hit with an โexit ban,โ which prevented him from leaving the country.
The terrorism charges were later decreased to โcyber crimes.โ
โThis day would not have been possible without Presidentย Donald Trumpย and the tireless efforts of his administration,โ the Almadi familyย said in aย statementย Wednesday. โWe are deeply grateful to Dr.ย Sebastian Gorkaย and the team at the National Security Council, as well as everyone at the State Department.โ
The statement came shortly after Trumpโs Wednesday speech at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum.
The Almadi family said the release โwould not have been possibleโ without the work of the president and the โtireless effortsโ of the administration, expressing gratitude to the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh for keeping Almadi โsafe.โ
One of Almadiโs posts on social mediaย that landed him in troubleย called for a street in the nationโs capital to be renamed afterย Jamal Khashoggi,ย a Washington Post columnist who was murdered in 2018 while at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.ย
Crown Prince Mohammed has denied involvement in the killing of the journalist, who fled Saudi Arabia in 2017, but U.S. intelligence reports in 2021 stated the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia โapprovedโ the operation to detain or kill the columnist.
The 9/11 Families United organization shared similar sentiments in regards to Trumpโs interactions.
โThe crown prince knows nothing of the pain of the 9/11 families. He is actively working to impede our efforts to ensure extensive evidence of Saudi government support for al-Qaeda and the terrorist hijackers are brought to light, harboring a former agent that produced a casing video of the U.S. Capitol building, and trying to rewrite history with investments,โ 9/11 Families Unitedย told The Hill in a statement.ย
Trump said Tuesday that the crown prince โknew nothingโ about Khashoggiโs murder, triggering harshย criticismย from press groups.ย
โWe are so excited for the family that Mr. Almadi is finally on his way back to the United States!ย We know how long and hard the family fought to make this day possible,โ the Foley Foundation, which advocates for American hostages and wrongful detainees held overseas, said Wednesday in a statement to The Hill.ย















