(AFP) – Saudi Arabia has lifted a travel ban on a US citizen who criticized the kingdom on social media, his family said Wednesday, as President Donald Trump welcomed the crown prince.
Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a US citizen of Saudi origin, had been arrested during a visit to his native country in 2021 after tweets that mentioned corruption and the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident writer strangled and dismembered in a Saudi consulate. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2022, in part on charges of destabilizing the kingdom. He was released a year later after appeals from the United States under President Joe Biden but was prevented from leaving the country.
His family said that Saudi authorities have now lifted the travel ban and that Almadi was on his way back to the United States. “This day would not have been possible without President Donald Trump and the tireless efforts of his administration,” the family said in a statement. “We hope the support and care we received will continue for those still held hostage in Saudi Arabia and in other parts of the world.”
Trump on Tuesday laid out a red carpet for Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, who US intelligence said ordered the killing of Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote opinion pieces in The Washington Post. Trump defended the crown prince, saying that he “knew nothing” about the murder and that “things happen,” and snapped at a journalist who he said embarrassed the Saudi prince by asking about it.
Crown Prince Mohammed, who pledged a $1 trillion investment in the United States, said Khashoggi’s murder was “painful” and a “huge mistake.” During Trump’s first term, Vice President Mike Pence publicly urged Saudi Arabia to free Raif Badawi, a rights activist serving a 10-year prison sentence and publicly lashed 50 times for his blog postings. Badawi served out his sentence and remains banned from leaving Saudi Arabia.
© 2024 AFP
