Son of Saudi captive vs. WH

The son of a US citizen jailed by Saudi Arabia for tweeting slammed President Biden for demonstrating “the definition of hypocrisy” after the administration said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has immunity for his role in the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

The Justice Department and State Department said Thursday that the crown prince, commonly known by his initials MBS, cannot be sued in US courts because of his role as Saudi prime minister, a post he assumed Sept. 27 in what critics call a ploy to avoid legal accountability.

Ibrahim Almadi told The Post Friday that he had planned to follow in the steps of Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, and sue MBS in an effort to hold him responsible for detaining his father, Saad Almadi, 72, who has been held since a 2021 trip to the kingdom.

“I have the lawyers prepared and everything is prepared,” Almadi said. “But Biden just killed our dreams and gave MBS the green light to kill everyone’s dreams.”

The White House has defended Biden’s approach toward the Saudis against charges that he hypocritically abandoned a campaign vow to push for human rights. Biden aides repeatedly expressed concern last month for the elder Almadi after his son said Biden “sold my father for oil” by patching up relations with MBS.

Almadi said Friday he has heard no updates from the government since publicly slamming its missteps, which included the State Department admitting it had failed to send someone to the Oct. 3 sentencing where his father received a 16-year, 3-month term for 14 critical tweets.