Lebanese national Haidar Slim released from Saudi Arabia: Here's what we know

Lebanese national Haider Slim was released from prison in Saudi Arabia and returned to Lebanon, Abu al-Fadel Shuman, a pro-Hezbollah activist and informant on the situation of Lebanese nationals in Gulf countries, said on X on Wednesday.

Slim was arrested while performing Hajj in 2022 after a video circulated on social media depicting him chanting a prayer for the twelveth Shia imam al-Mahdi and which is not accepted in Saudi Arabia, according to local media.

His family had regularly blocked the Beirut Airport road in protest and called upon the government to pressure Saudi Arabia to release their son.

وصول حيدر سليم الى مطار بيروت

على امل الافراج قريبا عن بقية الموقوفين، شكرا لكل من سعى لإطلاق سراح حيدر والجهود مستمرة ان شاء الله حتى الافراج عن بقية الشباب اللبنانيين pic.twitter.com/ZVQkMcaYsh

— ابو الفضل شومان (@shumanfadel) April 1, 2025

According to Shuman, shortly before the assassination of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Sept. 27, he had sent a message to Slim’s family, assuring them that he was following up on the case and considered Slim "like his own son."

Slim was originally supposed to serve a five-year sentence but was released two years earlier. Tens of people received him at the airport, lifted him on their shoulders, and cheered as they left the airport, reciting the same chant that led to his arrest in Saudi Arabia.

وصول المعتقل المحرر من سجون الوهابية السعودية الحاج #حيدر_سليم الى مطار بيروت واستقبله احباءه داخل المطار بردية #لبيك_يا_مهدي التي اعتقل على اساسها خلال تأدية الحج.. والله لن تميتوا وحينا pic.twitter.com/EYZJknEKkL

— ابو صالح (@abosalehmohsen) April 1, 2025

Release comes three days after Salam's visit to Saudi Arabia

Slim's release comes only three days after Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's official visit to Saudi Arabia. Salam was received Sunday by Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohamad Bin Salman for a closed-door meeting dedicated to "bilateral relations and the latest developments in Lebanon and the region," the state-run National News Agency reported. 

MBS had affirmed that the Kingdom "stands with Lebanon and seeks to restore its prosperity."

A few weeks before Salam, President Joseph Aoun was also received with honors in Riyadh, a sign of the re-establishment of relations between the new government in Beirut and the kingdom.

Relations between Lebanon and Gulf Arab countries have soured in recent years due to Hezbollah's influence on Lebanon's political scene. The party, supported by Iran, was militarily weakened after its war with Israel between Oct. 2023 and Nov. 2024, prompting Gulf nations to reconsider their stance on Lebanon. During their trip to Saudi Arabia, Aoun and Salam had stated that efforts were underway to lift the travel ban to Lebanon for Saudi citizens and to revive Lebanese exports to Saudi Arabia signifying the warming of relations between the two countries.