Leading Democrat senators slammed Saudi Arabia over sentencing Walid Fitaihi, a doctor and US citizen, to six years in jail based on politically motivated charges, calling for his “immediate release” and a lift of the travel ban against him and his family.
“We are appalled that Walid Fitaihi has been sentenced to six years in prison by a Saudi court on politically motivated charges,” said senators Chris Murphy, Patrick Leahy, Bob Menendez, Chris Van Hollen and Ron Wyden in a joint statement.
The legislators underscored that US officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have been urging the kingdom to free Fitaihi, who is Saudi American.
“We have repeatedly called for the release of Dr. Fitaihi since his arrest in 2017, and supported Secretary Pompeo’s direct appeals to Saudi authorities to resolve his case,” they said.
“Unfortunately, the Saudi government has ignored these bipartisan appeals, despite clear implications for the US-Saudi relationship.”
Fitaihi, a Harvard-trained 56-year-old physician with a large social media following, was first arrested in 2017 as part of a purge – led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – that targeted dozens of businessmen and royals.
He was sentenced by a Saudi court on Tuesday. The charges against him included obtaining US citizenship without the kingdom’s approval. In May, while temporarily free pending trial, he told Washington Post columnist Jackson Diehl that interrogators were mostly interested in why he has millions of followers on social media.
Fitaihi had been largely apolitical online with only occasional tweets in support of freedom of expression and Arab uprisings against autocratic governments.
“Dr Fitaihi is a healer. He is not a political figure. Our leaders must demand that he and his family be allowed to come to the United States immediately,” his American lawyer Howard Cooper told MEE earlier this week.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) also condemned the jailing of the Saudi-American doctor.
“Saudi authorities’ railroading of Dr. Walid Fitaihi under broad charges shows that the government has no intention of loosening its clampdown on peaceful critics,” Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East director at HRW, said in a statement on Thursday.
“The message to Saudi citizens is clearly that any expressed view that contradicts official Saudi domestic or foreign policy will lead straight to prison.”
Fitaihi had faced torture after his 2017 arrest, according to his family, like many of the detainees who were initially housed at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh.
On Thursday, the Washington Post’s editorial board called the sentence against Fitaihi an “insult” to the United States and a “gross injustice” that “should not go unanswered”.
“Mr. Trump styles himself as a transactional leader, but he hasn’t gotten much back from the Saudi ruler,” said an editorial penned by the board.