An American citizen was sentenced to 16 years in prison in Saudi Arabia, and his family accuses: “Biden sold him for oil”
Because of a series of tweets criticizing the kingdom, 72-year-old Saad Almadi received a heavy sentence. His son claims that the American government is doing nothing for his release, because of economic interests
The United States announced that it condemns the heavy sentence imposed in Saudi Arabia against an American citizen, who published several tweets criticizing the kingdom.
But the prisoner’s family accuses the Biden administration of doing nothing for his release. “They sold my father for oil.”
Saad, on the right, and his son Ibrahim, on the left (Photo: Getty Images)
On October 3, the Saudi court sentenced 72-year-old Saad Almadi to 16 years and three months in prison, following 14 tweets he posted on his Twitter account criticizing the Saudi government. This is what his son, Ibrahim, claims.
Among the tweets, Almadi wrote that the Saudis are unable to protect their national borders due to the Houthi rebels’ rocket fire, and even expressed his support for naming a street in Washington after Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist who was murdered by the government.
Almadi’s family was furious with President Joe Biden for failing to secure the father’s release, or even raise the issue publicly during his visit to Saudi Arabia last July. Moreover, the State Department failed to send an observer to this month’s sentencing hearing, further upsetting the family.
On Wednesday, press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre confirmed Almadi’s imprisonment, saying: “We have consistently and intensively raised our concerns about this case with senior levels in the Saudi government and in Washington. We will continue to do so. The Saudi government understands the importance we place on resolving this matter.” This. The exercise of freedom of expression must not be criminalized.”
Saad Almadi moved from Saudi Arabia to the United States in the 1970s, and was arrested in November 2021 during his visit to the kingdom for selling property. His son, Ibrahim, said in an interview with the New York Post that the American government asked the family not to publish the case, but in the end it hardly helped them.
“Biden sold my father for oil,” he said. “That’s clear to us, especially when we saw the news last week about how they asked to delay the OPEC decision by a month.”
Biden and the Saudi Crown Prince, during a visit in July (Photo: Reuters)
Two days after the sentencing, on October 5, the OPEC group that unites the oil exporting countries, headed by Saudi Arabia, announced a 2 percent cut in oil output, ignoring Biden’s repeated requests.
This decision should lead to an increase in fuel prices, and hurt the Democrats ahead of the mid-term elections in about three weeks. In response, Biden said he would reconsider the relationship with Saudi Arabia.
“He was sold for oil, but they didn’t get the oil. So there is no father, and there is no oil. There is nothing – there is only shame, that is what the White House has now,” Ibrahim said.
The son went on to charge that almost every day since the end of May, he called the White House switchboard to try to speak with Stephanie Hallett, the acting senior director of the National Security Council for the Middle East and North America. At one point, someone asked Ibrahim: “Why do you want to talk to someone who doesn’t want to talk to you?”.
If that wasn’t enough, in August, after Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia, a State Department official allegedly laughed off Ibrahim’s complaints that his father, a Republican who lives in Florida, couldn’t vote in the midterm elections.
Ibrahim said in an interview with The Post: “I’m a Democrat myself. I voted for Biden, and it was a stupid mistake.”
? Did the article interest you?