Exclusive | Family of Florida man stuck in Saudi Arabia for tweets about government hopes president of deals Trump will get him home
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The family of 75-year-old American Saad Almadi is hoping that President Trump’s trip to Saudi Arabia will win his freedom — telling The Post that Almadi faces a possible new trial over his criticism of the government on social media.Almadi, a dual citizen and retired engineer who lived in the US since the 1970s, was detained during a trip in late 2021 and later sentenced to 19 years in prison for tweeting criticisms of the Saudi government from his home in Florida.He was released from prison in 2023, but was banned from leaving the country.The prospect of a renewed trial has his family hoping that Trump will be able to use his strong relationship with Saudi leaders, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to bring him home.“He tried to go to Dubai two months ago [in March] and they said, ‘You are banned from traveling, contact the Ministry of Interior.’ And when he contacted the Ministry of Interior, they told him, ‘Saad, you are still facing a trial and you are still under travel ban for 19 years,'” his son, Ibrahim Almadi, told The Post.“Basically in court they said the charges are dropped and now they are refusing to let him travel.
They said, ‘No, the charges are still there, they aren’t dropped.’ It’s just a miserable court system.”Trump, who was greeted lavishly when he arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday morning, including with fighter jets escorting Air Force One and then Arabian horses flanking his motorcade, has made a priority of freeing Americans abroad.On Monday, Trump won the release of dual US-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip after his emissaries skirted American political norms and held direct talks with the terrorist group.Also in the Middle East, Trump hostage envoy Adam Boehler persuaded Kuwait to release 23 Americans in March and April, many of them held on drug charges.Almadi is one of a handful of American dual citizens facing exit bans from Saudi Arabia...