The son of a dual U.S.-Saudi citizen detained abroad on terrorism charges for social media posts told Military.com that he’s received white noise from the Trump administration regarding his father’s potential release, all as President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet face-to-face next week with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.
Saad Almadi, 75, traveled from his private Florida residence to Saudi Arabia in November 2021 and, according to hostage advocates, was wrongfully imprisoned over 14 posts he made on his private X account, then known as Twitter. Upon arrival, Almadi was detained by Saudi agents on charges of harboring a terrorist ideology, destabilizing the Kingdom, and terrorism
On Oct. 3, 2022, Almadi was sentenced to 16 years’ detention and given a 16-year exit ban, preventing him from leaving Saudi Arabia and returning to the states. In March 2023, after extensive lobbying from the Biden-era State Department, Almadi was released from detention but still under the guise of the exit ban.
“The Saudis, they have a tremendous amount of power.”
Almadi was brought back into court by Saudi officials this past September, ultimately receiving a three-year sentence (with time served) and his travel ban was reaffirmed.
“What my father is facing is beyond expression,” Ibrahim Almadi, 29, Saad’s son, told Military.com. “Even if I talk to you for hours and hours, I can’t express it but it’s very, very bad. The Saudis, they have a tremendous amount of power. I mean, look at them, they get away with murder; they get away with jailing Americans.
“Now they’re going to come to the states and discuss F-35s and an agreement in defense systems. How can we trust them?”
The crown prince is currently scheduled to meet with Trump on Nov. 18 in the nation’s capital, aimed to bolster the relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia and to discuss integral ties pertaining to economics, foreign and defense policies.
When asked about Saad’s detainment, a White House official told Military.com: “President Trump is aware of this case. We will not get ahead of any potential discussions.”
Military.com reached out to the State Department for comment.
Imprisoned For Tweets
The 14 social media posts spanning several years that unraveled Saad Almadi’s life, and the life of Ibrahim and his four siblings, never advocated for violence or expressed/promoted a particular terrorist group or ideology.
Ibrahim said his father’s musings about Saudi military operations and rulership, all written and published from his Florida home, were rather innocuous and talked about normal everyday issues in societies. Saad’s account as a whole was described as “funny.”
“Really, nobody’s listening to him or nobody’s paying attention to his points or views,” said Ibrahi, who lives in Boca Raton but travels to D.C. to aid his father’s efforts. “And he has no influence in the Kingdom. He’s just a retired human being.”
Saad formerly worked as a project manager who retired in the 2000s.
One of the posts sent as part of Saad’s account, “Mohajer44,” was a reply to Ibrahim, stating: “The Saudi government is removing everything that is old, they removed what was in Mecca before them, and what was in Riyadh, and the rest will come.”
Another post that went out to his fewer than 1,000 followers read: “Do not waste your time as a Saudi, get Lebanese citizenship and be omnipotent, and they have a Christian university, take a degree from it, and you will find a job as a consultant and expert in any field you choose, even if your specialty is a missionary of the Christian religion.”
And another: “Most of the Shura Council are just beneficiaries and they are not interested in the interest of the people or the country, especially the women’s section. Unfortunately, the credibility and trust entrusted to them were not valued by mere puppets. As for the members, they are the two members as greed from the king who appointed them.”
Some of the posts were deleted, including one supposedly praising Washington D.C. officials who back in 2018 approved the renaming of a street in honor of killed Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whose death that same year in the Turkish Consulate in Istanbul was alleged to have occurred under the order of the crown prince himself.
“The funny thing, these [Twitter posts] are evidence of the terrorism—14 tweets, they have nothing else,” Ibrahim said. “If anybody who knows my father or even sits with him for a few minutes, they would know he has different kinds of ideas about Islam and that would actually make the situation worse on him. He’s far away from being a terrorist or even criticized as a terrorist.”
Aside from Ibrahim and one other child, Saad Almadi’s other three children live in Saudi Arabia.
Open Line of Communication
Ibrahim has been critical of the previous Biden administration and its efforts, or lack thereof, to return U.S. citizens accused of political wrongdoing. He’s also praised the Trump administration for its special hostage envoy to help accelerate releases abroad, in cases where Americans have been held in countries like China and Russia.
That line of communication has included Ibrahim having direct access to multiple Trump administration officials who have updated him on any movement in his father’s case. One of those government contacts has been Sebastian Gorka, a White House adviser in Trump’s first term and a deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism during the current administration.
“The Trump administration has been doing a very excellent job with me, actually,” Ibrahim said. “I have two of the president’s advisors in my cellphone. I can reach them, text them anytime I want.”
Trump was asked about Saad by the press in May 2025, saying he wasn’t at all familiar with the case but would see what he could do.
“This is what you get for killing people and jailing Americans”
About 10 days after Trump’s remarks, Ibrahim was invited to meet with Gorka to discuss Saad’s situation. Nothing transpired for months, until Oct. 3 when Ibrahim and Gorka met again at the White House.
“[Gorka] told me, ‘We have seven days to work on it.’ Now it’s past [a] month,” Ibrahim said. “They told my father in the embassy when he visited in mid-October that his file would move to President Trump’s desk [the] first week of November, and [that] the visit of MBS would be rejected if my father was not back.
“But now we are at Nov. 12. Nothing about my father, nothing with rejecting the visit. … So, this is what you get for killing people and jailing Americans.”
Trump Should ‘Urge’ MBS For Release
The Foley Foundation, which advocates for U.S. hostage prevention and release, said that Saad Almadi has no connections with any terrorist organization and poses no threat to Saudi Arabia. They encourage Trump to make a direct request to the crown prince for Saad’s release, which they said “would not be ignored.”
“Mr. Almadi’s case is about free speech—the very principle my son Jim was held captive and killed defending,” Diane Foley, president and founder of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, told Military.com. “President Trump has long stood for free expression and putting American citizens first. I hope he will urge Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to send Mr. Almadi home before their White House meeting.”
Abdullah Alaoudh, senior director of countering authoritarianism at the Middle East Democracy Center, was also critical in remarks made in September.
“Why is an American father who was arrested over innocuous tweets still trapped in Saudi Arabia while President Trump cozies up to MBS?” Alaoudh said. “If the Trump administration is serious about putting Americans first, Saad Almadi would be home with his family in Florida.”
Ibrahim, who has also personally mentioned his father’s case with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, said he gets to speak and FaceTime with his father.
Efforts to spur his release included moving to Washington D.C. for about a year. Finding advocates like those at the Foley Foundation instilled hope for Ibrahim, who said he “felt tired of fighting alone.”
“I’m [Saad’s] son and not only his son, I’m his best friend,” Ibrahim said. “I didn’t hug him or get to see him or spend holidays with him. I have my life completely on pause. I’m not doing anything in my life, just working his case.”
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