Family: Saudis sentence US citizen to 16 years over tweets

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The family of an American citizen arrested in Saudi Arabia says he was tortured and sentenced to 16 years in prison over tweets he sent while in the United States. The 72-year-old retired project manager, who was living in Florida, was arrested last November while visiting family in the kingdom. Almadi is a citizen of both Saudi Arabia and the U.S. His son, who went public with details of the case this week, said Tuesday that his father was sentenced on terrorism charges related to “mild tweets” he posted on Twitter. It appeared to be the latest in a series of recent cases in which Saudis received long jail sentences for social media posts critical of the government.