Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a dual citizen of the US and Saudi Arabia, was freed from prison by Saudi Arabia more than a year after his imprisonment over tweets criticizing the country, according to Almadi’s son Ibrahim, who spoke to CNN.
According to his son, who is located in the US, Almadi was freed around 2 a.m. local time on Tuesday and is currently in Riyadh as a result of a travel ban.
The US State Department reported in October that the 72-year-old had been detained in Saudi Arabia after receiving a 16-year sentence for tweets that were critical of the Saudi government.
“He is not free until he is in the (United) States,” his son said.
Neither Saudi nor US officials immediately confirmed the release of Almadi and it remains unclear whether the kingdom would lift a travel ban it had imposed to allow Almadi to return to the US.
CNN has reached out to Saudi Arabia’s government for comment.
Abdullah Alaoudh, the Saudi Director at The Freedom Initiative, a Washington-based advocacy group, welcomed Almadi’s release, saying “he should have never spend a day behind bars for innocuous tweets.”
Almadi was sentenced by Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court over 14 tweets critical of the Saudi government that he posted while in the US, a Freedom Initiative statement said, adding that some of the tweets date back seven years.
“There are far too many people in Saudi detention who don’t have the benefit of US citizenship to draw attention to their cases. Almadi was wrongfully detained, reportedly tortured, and released only after tireless campaigning by his son and international pressure,” Alaoudh said.
“Almadi’s release shows that strategic pressure works, and US officials should continue to press for release of prisoners and lifting of travel bans,” Alaoudh added.