Saudi Arabia releases dual US-Saudi citizen from prison after he posted critical tweets about the kingdom

1 year ago 5

In this photo provided by Ibrahim Almadi, Saad Ibrahim Almadi sits in a restaurant in an unidentified place, in the United States, on August 2021. Saudi Arabia has freed the Saudi-American citizen it had imprisoned more than a year over his old tweets critical of the kingdom's crown prince.

CNN —

Saudi Arabia released US-Saudi dual national Saad Ibrahim Almadi from prison, more than a year after he was arrested for tweets critical of the kingdom, Almadi’s son, Ibrahim, told CNN.

Almadi was released at 2 a.m. local time on Tuesday and is currently in Riyadh under a travel ban, said his son, who is based in the US.

The 72-year-old had been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia after being given a 16-year sentence for tweets critical of the Saudi government, the US State Department said in October.

“He is not free until he is in the (United) States,” his son said.

Neither Saudi nor US officials immediately confirmed the release of Almadi and it remains unclear whether the kingdom would lift a travel ban it had imposed to allow Almadi to return to the US.

CNN has reached out to Saudi Arabia’s government for comment.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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