Saudi-US dual national jailed over critical tweets returns to Florida

A Saudi-American man who spent years entangled in a high-profile detention case in Riyadh has been allowed to return to the United States after restrictions on his travel were lifted.

Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a 75-year-old retired engineer with dual US and Saudi citizenship, arrived back in Florida this week, his family confirmed. Almadi had been arrested in November 2021 during a visit to Saudi Arabia and later convicted on charges including “supporting terrorism” and attempting to destabilise the kingdom — accusations his family insisted were based solely on a series of tweets.

In a statement posted on X on Wednesday, Almadi’s family said the development marked the end of a “horrific four-year ordeal”.
They thanked former President Donald Trump and members of his administration, claiming their efforts played a decisive role in securing Almadi’s return. The announcement came a day after Trump hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) at the White House.

The family also acknowledged the National Security Council, the US State Department, and journalists whose reporting helped sustain public attention on the case.

Almadi had originally been sentenced to 16 years in prison, a term later increased to 19 years by an appeals court. The only evidence presented, his son Ibrahim told the BBC, was 14 tweets posted over several years.
The posts included criticism of urban redevelopment projects in Mecca and Jeddah, comments on poverty, and references to the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

He was released early in 2023 but was barred from leaving Saudi Arabia, leaving him effectively stranded until this week’s developments.

According to The New York Post, Almadi boarded a flight out of Riyadh around 12:15 ET on Wednesday, minutes after Trump and the crown prince appeared together at an investment forum in Washington, D.C.

Earlier in October, his son posted a photograph with Sebastian Gorka, a national security adviser in the Trump administration, suggesting that MBS’s entry into the US was “contingent upon the safe return” of his father.

During Tuesday’s meeting with MBS, Trump told reporters the Saudi leader “knew nothing” about the killing of Khashoggi — a stance at odds with a 2021 US intelligence assessment that concluded the crown prince had approved the operation at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.