A U.S. citizen has been arrested in Saudi Arabia, tortured and sentenced to 16 years in jail over tweets he despatched whereas in the US, his son stated Tuesday.
Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a 72-year-old retired mission supervisor residing in Florida, was arrested final November whereas visiting household within the kingdom and was sentenced earlier this month, his son Ibrahim Almadi informed The Related Press, confirming particulars that had been first reported by the Washington Publish. Almadi is a citizen of each Saudi Arabia and the U.S.
There was no fast remark from Saudi officers.
Talking at a press briefing, U.S. State Division deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel confirmed Almadi’s detention and stated Washington first raised its issues with Riyadh in December 2021, as quickly because it was made conscious of the arrest.
“Now we have constantly and intensively raised our issues relating to the case at senior ranges of the Saudi authorities … and we’ll proceed to take action. Now we have raised this with members of the Saudi authorities as just lately as yesterday,” Patel stated.
He didn’t say what Almadi was charged with however stated: “Exercising the liberty of expression ought to by no means be criminalized.”
14 ‘gentle tweets’ over 7 years: son
It gave the impression to be the newest in a collection of current circumstances wherein Saudis obtained lengthy jail sentences for social media posts crucial of the federal government.
Saudi authorities have tightened their crackdown on dissent following the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who’s searching for to open up and remodel the ultraconservative kingdom however has adopted a tough line in direction of any criticism.
A Saudi court docket just lately sentenced a lady, Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani, to 45 years in jail for allegedly damaging the nation by her social media exercise. A Saudi doctoral pupil at Leeds College in England, Salma al-Shehab, was sentenced to 34 years for spreading “rumours” and retweeting dissidents, a case that drew worldwide outrage.
Ibrahim says his father was detained over 14 “gentle tweets” despatched over the previous seven years, principally criticizing authorities insurance policies and alleged corruption.
He says his father was not an activist however a personal citizen expressing his opinion whereas within the U.S., the place freedom of speech is a constitutional proper.
Biden’s go to marked turnaround
U.S. President Joe Biden travelled to the oil-rich kingdom in July for a gathering with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, wherein he stated he confronted him about human rights.
Their assembly — and a broadly criticized fist-bump — marked a pointy turnaround from Biden’s earlier vow to make the dominion a “pariah” over the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist and Washington Publish columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Ibrahim stated that on Oct. 3, his father was sentenced to 16 years in jail on prices of supporting terrorism. The daddy was additionally charged with failing to report terrorism, over tweets that Ibrahim had posted.
He stated his father was additionally slapped with a 16-year journey ban. If the sentence is carried out, the 72-year-old can be 87 upon his launch and barred from returning residence to the U.S. except he reaches the age of 104.
Ibrahim stated Saudi authorities warned his household to remain quiet concerning the case and to not contain the U.S. authorities. He stated his father was tortured after the household contacted the State Division in March.
Ibrahim additionally accused the State Division of neglecting his father’s case by not declaring him a “wrongfully detained” American, which might elevate his file.
“They manipulated me. They informed me to remain quiet to allow them to get him out,” Ibrahim stated, explaining his resolution to go public this week. “I’m not keen to take a big gamble on the Division of State anymore.”