Saudi court hands Saudi-American doctor Walid al-Fitaihi 6-year sentence
The Harvard-trained doctor is reported to have been sentenced over tweeting his support for the 2011 Arab Spring protests and for obtaining US citizenship.
A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced Saudi American Walid Fitaihi to six years in prison, despite calls from the Trump administration for Riyadh to release the Harvard-trained doctor.
A person close to the family told The Washington Post that Fitaihi was sentenced for tweeting his support of the 2011 Arab Spring protests and for obtaining US citizenship, which he received while a student at George Washington University and Harvard University. He now has 30 days to appeal his sentence, the Post reported.
Fitaihi was swept up in the Saudi government’s anti-corruption purge in November 2017 that saw hundreds of businessmen, Saudi royals and other perceived government critics detained at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh. Fitaihi was reportedly transferred to a prison after three months; a friend told The New York Times last year Fitaihi was tortured with electric shocks.
He was released from prison after two years, but Fitaihi and his family members, who are also US citizens, were barred from leaving the country.
