On Monday, Saudi Arabia released a 72-year-old retired American citizen who had been imprisoned for over a year due to his past tweets that were critical of the kingdom’s crown prince, according to his son.
Although neither Saudi nor U.S. officials have officially confirmed the release of Saad al Madi, a long-time Florida resident, there have been rumors of progress towards his release since last week.
According to Ibrahim al Madi, the son of Saad al Madi who resides in the United States, his father was at home in Riyadh with family members on Monday night. Saudi officials have dropped all charges against Saad al Madi, who holds dual U.S.-Saudi citizenship.
But it was not immediately clear whether the kingdom would lift a travel ban it had imposed to follow the prison sentence.
Saudi Arabia had sentenced Madi last year to 16 years in prison, saying his critical tweets about how the kingdom was being governed amounted to terrorist acts against it.
As U.S. officials worked to win his release, and after President Joe Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia last summer in an attempt to improve relations with the oil-rich nation, a Saudi appeals court increased Madi’s prison sentence to 19 years.
The case had been one of many alleged human rights abuses souring relations between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Biden.
Freedom Initiative, a U.S.-based group that advocates for detainees it says are unjustly detained in the Middle East, says least four U.S. citizens and one legal permanent resident already were detained in Saudi Arabia under travel bans, and that at least one other older U.S. citizen remains imprisoned. Many of the travel bans targeted dual citizens advocating for greater rights in the kingdom.