JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A First Coast man has been sentenced to spend 16 years in a Saudi Arabian prison for posts he made on Twitter from the United States.
His son is accusing the Saudi government of torturing his father.
Saad Ibrahim Almadi, who is a dual citizen of the United States and Saudi Arabia, was arrested last November.
Almadi's family confirmed to First Coast News that he resided locally and is a registered voter in Duval County.
The Saudi government charged him with supporting terrorism and earlier this month had his sentence handed down.
His son, Ibrahim, says his father was detained over what he says were 14 tweets that he says were "mildly critical" of the government over the past seven years.
Speaking to the Washington Post, Almadi's son says one of the tweets referenced Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post reporter who was allegedly murdered by Saudi agents in 2018.
The other tweets criticized Saudi corruption.
Even if the 72-year-old completes his prison sentence, he is also barred from leaving the country until he's 104.
Almadi's son told the post his father is living in filth, and confined with terrorists while his family has been threatened by the Saudis they would lose everything if they didn't keep quiet.
The White House was asked about what the U.S. Government is doing regarding Almadi's case.
Here's what the White House press secretary said this afternoon:
"...we have consistently and intensively raised our concerns regarding this case to senior levels of Saudi in Washington ... we will continue to do so, but the Saudi government understands the priority we attach to resolving this matter... exercising the freedom of expression should never be criminalized."