Overview
- A Sept. 14 ruling found Saad Almadi, 75, guilty of distributing online content that undermines public order and imposed an exit ban until March 2026.
- The conviction carries a three-year sentence but does not add prison time after he was previously detained following his 2021 arrest.
- Almadi was initially given more than 19 years on terrorism-related charges tied to tweets, later freed with those charges dropped but kept under a travel ban.
- His family says officials cited posts referencing Jamal Khashoggi’s killing and the crown prince’s consolidation of power during interrogations.
- The U.S. State Department says it is monitoring the case and providing consular services, while a Washington-based rights group counts at least four similar U.S.-linked exit-ban cases.