Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia court has increased the sentenced of Saad Ibrahim Almadi, who holds both Saudi and American nationalities, to 19 years in prison, local media reported.
72-year-old Saad Ibrahim Almadi, retired project manager living in Florida, was arrested in November 2021, while visiting family in the kingdom and was sentenced in October 2022 to 16 years.
Saudi court convicted him of attempting to destabilize the kingdom and supporting terrorism.
As per media reports, Saad Almadi had been detained over 14 tweets posted on Twitter over the past seven years, mostly criticizing government policies and accusing them of corruption. He was also banned from traveling for 16 years.
As per New York Post, the US State Department informed Ibrahim Almadi of the new Saudi punishment, on Wednesday, February 8, months after the White House publicly condemned the mistreatment of his father, Saad Almadi.
Ibrahim, criticized the handling of his father’s case after the US State Department told him that his father would spend a longer period in prison.
He told The New York Post, ‘It’s not a slap in the face, it’s a middle finger. When the US asked for an appeal, they said: “Here you go, 19 years!”‘
This appears to be the latest in a series of recent cases in which Saudis have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms for social media posts critical of the government.
Wave of arrests
Since Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, became the Saudi crown prince in June 2017, dozens of imams, women’s rights activists and members of the ruling royal family have been detained.
In August 2022, Saudi court sentenced a woman Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani to 45 years in prison for using Twitter to express her opinions.
This conviction of Nourah Al-Qahtani comes less than a month after another Saudi woman, Salma al-Shehab, was sentenced to 34 years in prison and given a further 34-year travel ban for following and retweeting activists on Twitter.
Similarly, in August 2022, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Courts of Appeal sentenced a prominent former imam and preacher at the Grand Mosque in Makkah Sheikh Saleh Al Talib to ten years in prison.
Among those arrested are prominent Islamic preachers Salman al-Awdah, Awad al-Qarni, Farhan al-Malki, Mostafa Hassan and Safar al-Hawali.
