Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a U.S. citizen, was arrested when he arrived at the airport in Riyadh last November.
Saudi Arabia sentenced a U.S. citizen to a 16-year prison term, and an additional 16-year prohibition against leaving the Gulf country, earlier this month, Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin reported. News of the sentencing was closely held until Rogin’s column ran yesterday, as the son of that prisoner decided to break his family’s silence, alleging that the Biden administration is mishandling his father’s case and urging a more competent approach.
Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a dual Saudi-U.S. citizen who posted a handful of tweets critical of the Saudi regime from the U.S., was arrested when he arrived at the airport in Riyadh last November, his son Ibrahim told the Post. He was subsequently charged with a slate of crimes relating to terrorism and sentenced on October 3.
A 2021 report by the Freedom Initiative found that there are at least 89 U.S. citizens or residents, and their family members, who “were detained, disappeared, or under travel bans at some point” that year in Saudi Arabia. The case of a British resident who was arrested upon returning to Saudi Arabia over her tweets also cast light on the regime’s draconian handling of dissent.
Almadi’s U.S. citizenship has not protected him from the brutal techniques with which the Kingdom punishes even marginal displays of dissent.
When American diplomats visited Almadi in prison last May, Ibrahim Almadi said, his father declined to request U.S. government assistance with his case, fearing that the Saudi authorities would torture him. During a second meeting in August, however, Saad Almadi did ask for assistance, and his son told Rogin that he was subsequently tortured.
Much of the Post column focuses on the State Department’s missteps in handling the situation, and, in particular, Foggy Bottom’s apparent reluctance to designate Almadi as “wrongfully detained” — an official status that would authorize the use of more resources and involve a special office dedicated to securing the release of American hostages abroad.
The son told the columnist that he asked the department to send U.S. officials to the October 3 sentencing hearing, but that they forgot to tell the U.S. embassy in Riyadh and no one showed up. “This is something we deeply regret,” a senior State Department official told Rogin.
The U.S. official also said that State is now evaluating Almadi’s eligibility for the wrongfully detained designation and that “We have consistently and regularly raised with Saudi officials our strong concerns over charges brought against Mr. Almadi and other American citizens for exercising what should be fundamental freedoms.”
The news of Almadi’s sentencing and torture comes at a particularly delicate time for the administration. Although President Biden vowed on the presidential campaign trail to turn the Kingdom into a “pariah” over the grisly assassination of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, he attempted to mend fences during a visit to Saudi Arabia this summer, fist-bumping Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom the intelligence community said authorized the Khashoggi murder.
But, as shown by the rancor in Washington surrounding Riyadh’s position on OPEC+’s decision to opt for a production cut, the previously sought diplomatic thaw remains a remote possibility. This new pressure to secure Almadi’s release will likely harden the White House’s Saudi-skeptic instincts.