Saudi Arabia frees American imprisoned over critical tweets

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Saudi Arabia has freed an American citizen it had imprisoned more than a year over old tweets critical of the kingdom’s crown prince. News of the release on Monday of U.S.-Saudi citizen Saad Almadi, 72, came from his son in the United States. Neither Saudi Arabia nor U.S. officials by early Tuesday had yet spoken publicly about the release. Until his arrest he’d been living in Florida. On Tuesday Almadi was at home with family members who live in Riyadh, according to his son, Ibrahim Almadi. The case was one of many alleged human rights abuses that had soured relations between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Joe Biden.