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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.

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This screenshot shows an image of Dr. Walid Fitaihi on his webpage, walidfitaihi.com. — walidfitaihi.com

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.  

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