On Tuesday, Saudi officials released a U.S. citizen held for 19 years for tweeting criticism of the regime, but his son said he could not leave.
This month, a criminal court sentenced 72-year-old Saad Ibrahim Almadi to 19 years.
Ibrahim told Reporters his father was at home in Riyadh with his family.
“All charges have been dismissed but we have to fight the travel ban now,” Ibrahim remarked.
Saudi Arabia did not comment immediately. White House and State Department responses were delayed.
After arriving in Riyadh in November 2021, Almadi, a dual U.S.-Saudi national who had retired in Florida, was detained on suspicions of aiding terrorists and destabilizing the country.
His and other U.S. citizens’ travel bans in Saudi Arabia had strained relations between the two old allies.
President Joseph Biden visited Saudi Arabia in July and mentioned the cases with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
As OPEC+, led by Saudi Arabia and included Russia, lowered output objectives in October, Biden warned Riyadh of repercussions.
Yet, both sides are improving relations.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on economic reform to lessen its dependency on crude.
Critics of Prince Mohammed, businesspeople, priests, and rights campaigners have been arrested during the changes.
This Monday, Saudi official media showed Twitter critics sentenced to 15 years in prison.
“Using the internet to undermine the social fabric” got two Saudi women, 45 and 35 years in prison last year.
Abdullah Alaoudh, Freedom Initiative’s Saudi director, said Almadi’s release demonstrated U.S. pressure worked.
“There are simply too many persons in custody in Saudi Arabia who do not have U.S. citizenship to call attention to their cases,” he added.
“Almadi’s release proves that strategic pressure works,” he continued.
Democratic and Republican U.S. senators submitted a resolution this month that may evaluate security support for the monarchy over its rights record.
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