A US citizen has been sentenced to 16 years in prison in Saudi Arabia for posting a controversial tweet. The son of an American citizen gave this information. American citizen Saad Ibrahim Almadi (72) made this tweet about seven years ago while living in America. Corroborating the Washington Post’s news, Ibrahim’s son told The Associated Press that his father was a retired “project manager” and lived in Florida. He was arrested in November last year while visiting Saudi Arabia to visit family. Almadi is a citizen of both the US and Saudi Arabia. Saudi officials have not yet released any statement on this.
- The controversial tweet was made in America and the government of Saudi Arabia caught it
- The government of Saudi Arabia sentenced 16 years for a tweet
- The man was living in America and had gone to Saudi Arabia to visit family
Tweeted 7 years ago
US State Department Deputy Spokesman Vedant Patel confirmed Almadi’s detention during a briefing with reporters in Washington. “We have consistently expressed our serious concerns to the high command of the Saudi government and we will continue to do so in the future,” Patel said. We also raised this issue with members of the Saudi government yesterday.” Ibrahim’s son said his father was caught for “some small tweets” made seven years ago. In it, he criticized the policies of the government and alleged corruption.
Accused of supporting terrorism
He said his father was not an activist but an ordinary citizen who expressed his opinion while living in America where freedom of expression is a constitutional right. Ibrahim’s son said his father was sentenced to 16 years in prison on October 3 for supporting terrorism. He was also accused of failing to report terrorist acts. A 16-year travel ban has also been imposed on him. He said Saudi officials threatened him to keep quiet on the matter and warned the US government not to get involved.
The US State Department ignored the matter
Those who have been arrested are now 72 years old. He will be 87 years old when he is released from prison 12 years later and will be able to re-enter the US at age 104 because of the travel ban. He claimed that his father was severely tortured after contacting the US State Department in March. He said the US State Department ignored the matter by not declaring his father’s detention invalid. “They cheated me,” Ibrahim’s son said of his decision to go public with the matter this week. They asked me to shut up so they could get them out of there. I will no longer trust the Ministry of External Affairs.”