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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Edward Helmore

Saudi Arabia releases US retiree jailed over critical tweets

a man sits in a restaurant
Saad Almadi in the US in August 2021. Photograph: Ibrahim Almadi/AP

Saudi Arabia has agreed to allow US citizen Saad Almadi to return home to Florida, five months ahead of the scheduled lifting of travel restrictions and a day after Saudi crown prince and prime minister Mohammed bin Salman met Donald Trump at the White House.

Almadi, 75, was sentenced to 19 years of incarceration in the kingdom in 2021 after he wrote 14 tweets critical of the Riyadh government. Two years later, the charges were reduced to so-called “cyber crimes” and he was sentenced to a 30-year ban on leaving Saudi Arabia.

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