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The son of an American man jailed for 16 years in Saudi Arabia has slammed President Biden for failing to help his father and ‘selling him for oil.’
Saad Ibrahim Almadi, 72, was locked up in the country for a series of tweets he posted while in Florida – after the US State Department failed to send a representative to observe proceedings in Saudi Arabia.
The prisoner’s son Ibrahim Almadi, 26, has now spoken out about Biden and the way his father has been treated – shaming the White House and their lack of support.
The 72-year-old project manager from Florida was arrested in November when he traveled to Riyadh to visit his family. He was arrested at the airport and found guilty for trying to destabilize the kingdom and supporting and funding terrorism.
The only evidence they showed in Saudi court was 14 tweets, his son said.
Saad Ibrahim Almadi, 72, was locked up in the country for a series of tweets he posted while in Florida – after the US State Department failed to send a representative to observe proceedings in Saudi Arabia
The US citizen (pictured) was sentenced to 16 years – and was slapped with a 16 year travel ban. This means he would not be able to return to America until the age of 104
The tweets included messages criticizing the demolition of old parts of the cities of Mecca and Jeddah, poverty in the kingdom, and a reference to the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Alamadi, fighting for information to help his father, called the White House switchboard almost every day from late May.
He was trying – and failing – to get in touch with Stephanie Hallett, the National Security Council’s acting senior director for the Middle East and North Africa.
But Alamadi claims that a phone operator asked him: ‘Why do you want to talk to someone who doesn’t want to talk to you?’
And the enraged son said that Biden should ‘get the f*** out of the White House’ if he doesn’t consider it his job and duty to help get imprisoned US citizens like his father freed from foreign prisons.
Speaking to the New York Post, he said: ‘He sold my father for oil, that’s clear to us. Especially when we saw the news last week about how they requested to delay the OPEC decisions a month.
US President Joe Biden (left) and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (right)
Journalist Jamal Khashoggi, pictured, was killed in 2018
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman fist bumps U.S. President Joe Biden upon his arrival at Al Salman Palace, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, July 15, 2022
‘Biden just cares about votes. He doesn’t care about my father, he doesn’t care about American citizens.
‘He got sold for oil, but they didn’t receive the oil. So there is no father, no oil. There’s nothing — there is only shame, that is what the White House has got now.’
State Department officials allegedly laughed at the younger Alamadi when he brought up fears that his father wouldn’t be able to vote in the midterm elections next month.
He added: ‘My father’s a Republican registered voter. He wants to participate in the coming election. They laughed and said that your father should request a paper ballot.’
Alamadi also told the BBC that he believes if his father was arrested in Russia or Iran, then Biden would do the upmost to release him.
However the president’s desire to keep the oil-rich kingdom on his side has outweighed his judgement to help the captive US citizen, he claims.
Alamadi said: ‘If you’re held in Saudi Arabia, a barrel of oil is worth more than you, habibi.’
The US citizen was sentenced to 16 years – and was slapped with a 16 year travel ban. This means he would not be able to return to America until the age of 104.
Since being in prison in Saudi Arabia, he has been tortured and forced to live with actual terrorists, his son told the Washington Post.
It took a representative from the US Embassy six months to first visit Almadi in jail – and no one from the department were present during his sentencing on October 3.
The younger Alamadi told the Washington Post: ‘I told the State Department his hearing was set for October 3 and they should attend. Afterward, over the phone, they said, “Oh, I’m sorry we forgot to tell the embassy.”‘
When approached, a senior state department official said the fact the information didn’t get to the Embassy ‘is something we deeply regret.’
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