Melvindale man freed from Saudi prison back in Metro Detroit

The Melvindale man who was held in a Saudi Arabian prison for more than a month arrived in Metro Detroit on Thursday, where he issued praise for U.S. government officials for lobbying for his release.

Mohamed Salem, 63, arrived in Detroit shortly before noon on Thursday after being released by Saudi officials earlier this week, said Abdallah Moughni, the Dearborn attorney who helped organize the campaign to free Salem.

He "is very happy to be back to this beautiful country, a country we all love. There is nothing like this in the world," said Salem through an interpreter to reporters at the airport, according to Fox 2 Detroit. "American protects the freedoms and the innocent and he is an innocent man.'"

Salem had been held since Nov. 1, when he was detained after allegedly making a disparaging remark about the country, according to family accounts told to Moughni.

Salem, who immigrated to the United States from Yemen in 1989, had been on a pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest site in Islam, with two of his sons. While waiting in a line near the cube-shape Kaaba, Salem was asked to change lines. Salem had wanted to stay with his sons but a security guard yelled and separated them, relatives told Moughni.

That’s when two men approached an agitated Salem and told him they were from Libya and asked what was happening. Salem apparently said he would burn down the country if it weren’t for the religious sites, Moughni said the family said. The men were believed to be undercover Saudi agents.

Salem was held in Dhahban Central Prison, a maximum security facility known to house terrorists in Saudi Arabia, and facing allegations of torture. Moughni said he and Salem’s family acted quickly to contact the U.S. State Department and National Security Council, and U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich. and U.S. Rep Tlaib D-Detroit, all of whom lobbied for his release. The family also decided to tell the story to the media.

The strategy apparently worked because Salem said Thursday that his treatment in prison quickly improved once they learned he was an American citizen, according to broadcast reports.

He was never charged with an offense, Moughni said. His two sons remain in Saudi Arabia continuing their religious pilgrimage.

"After weeks of my team and I working with the State Department & other officials, one of #13thDistrictStrong's resident, a father of six, who lives in Melvindale, is finally home with his family," Tlaib said Thursday on Facebook.