The Riyadh airport attack on Oct. 10 killed an American citizen and 11 others at King Khalid International Airport, Saudi civil aviation authorities said. Other Americans ended up in custody.
Saudi authorities have detained U.S. citizens for taking photos of recent events, the U.S. Mission in Saudi Arabia said Oct. 12. It hasn’t said how many.
The American killed at King Khalid International Airport
The victim hasn’t been publicly named. Neither the State Department nor Saudi authorities have said whether the American lived in the kingdom or was passing through the airport.
A missile struck the complex housing terminals 3 and 4, which serve domestic flights, a regional official told The Associated Press. The airport has no military facilities. The dead also included four Saudis, two Bangladeshis and one person each from Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt, and authorities said 309 people were injured.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the death on X, saying the attacks showed “a blatant disregard for innocent civilian life.” The U.S. Embassy said it was “deeply saddened.”
What the embassy owes the family
The State Department tries to locate and notify the next of kin when an American dies abroad. It can help with local burial or with shipping remains home.
It also issues a Consular Report of Death Abroad, which families use to settle U.S. estates, usually once a foreign death certificate exists. Processing can take four to six months. The department doesn’t pay to return remains.
The Americans detained for photographs
The Oct. 12 alert relayed a Saudi Interior Ministry warning that filming, publishing or sharing information about intercepted missiles and drones or their impact sites “exposes you to legal liability.” Then it confirmed the detentions.
A follow-up alert Oct. 14 said Americans were held for photographing government buildings, airports and impact sites. Neither alert gave a location or charges.
The State Department added the warning to its Level 3 advisory the same day. Saudi law already bars photographing government buildings, military sites and security personnel, the advisory says.
Why might the detainees stay unknown?
Official notification of a U.S. citizen’s arrest can take weeks or months, the advisory says, and a consular visit may take weeks more. Some Americans have been held without charges for years.
Exit bans can keep Americans in the country for years, even after a sentence is served. Americans who entered on another passport may get no consular visits. The department says it can’t guarantee anyone’s release.
Dual U.S.-Saudi citizens may not receive U.S. consular help at all. AER reported in August on a Jordanian-American journalist barred from leaving Jordan, where the same limit applies to dual citizens.
What’s still unknown
The State Department hasn’t named the American killed, given a count of Americans in custody or said whether any detainee has been charged or released. The mission says consular services remain available.
King Khalid International stays closed through at least Oct. 17, after Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority extended its suspension, the Oct. 14 alert says.
