Saad Almadi, 75, a dual U.S.-Saudi citizen detained in Saudi Arabia since 2021, is on his way back to Florida, coinciding with U.S. President Donald Trump’s White House meetings with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Almadi, a naturalized U.S. citizen who moved to the United States in 1976, had traveled to Saudi Arabia to visit family and manage personal property. Upon arriving in Riyadh, he was detained and questioned about social media posts he had made from his home in Boca Raton that were critical of the Saudi government.
One of the posts in question included Almadi’s support of renaming a street in Washington, D.C., in memory of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post journalist who was brutally murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2018. Bin Salman’s reported involvement in Khashoggi’s murder pushed him into pariah status for years.
While Almadi initially received a 19-year prison sentence, he was freed in 2023 but remained under a travel ban.
Almadi’s family confirmed on Nov. 19 that he was “airborne from Riyadh” moments after Trump and the Saudi crown prince appeared together on stage at an investment forum in Washington.
“This day would not have been possible without President Donald Trump and the tireless efforts of his administration,” the family wrote. “We hope the support and care we received will continue for those still held hostage in Saudi Arabia and in other parts of the world.”
