Movement Media Alliance Statement on the Detention of Journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin

The Movement Media Alliance stands in solidarity with journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, who has now been held in a Kuwaiti prison for over a month, denied regular access to legal counsel, and cut off from the public work that has defined a distinguished career in international journalism.

Shihab-Eldin is among the most accomplished journalists working in international media today. He holds an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, where he has also taught as an adjunct lecturer. He has reported for PBS Frontline and the New York Times, and appeared on BBC, CNN, NBC, and MSNBC. His work has earned him the British Journalism Award and the Amnesty International Media Award, and Arabian Business Magazine named him one of the “100 Most Influential Young Arabs.”

Kuwaiti authorities have apparently charged Shihab-Eldin with spreading false information, harming national security, and misusing his mobile phone. These charges are routinely used to silence independent journalists across the region. His detention came as Kuwait and other Gulf governments imposed sweeping censorship in the early days of the war on Iran, treating the act of independent reporting as a threat to state security.

Across the Gulf and neighboring countries, governments have exploited the current war to intensify repression of press freedom and public expression. In Kuwait, the State Security Apparatus has carried out “dozens of arbitrary arrests of citizens who peacefully expressed their opinions on social media.” In Bahrain, 168 people have been arrested for “peacefully expressing their opinions or participating in demonstrations”. In Jordan, journalist Hiba Abu Taha was sentenced to two years in prison after a trial that “lacked minimum international standards for due process.” The Gulf Centre for Human Rights has documented this pattern in detail.

Holding an internationally recognized journalist in prison with limited access to his lawyer, on charges rooted in the content of his reporting, is an assault on press freedom that cannot be explained away as a domestic legal matter. It reflects a broader determination, shared by governments across the Gulf, to eliminate independent journalism as a check on state power during a period of acute regional crisis.

The Movement Media Alliance was founded on the conviction that independent journalism is essential to justice. We believe that attacks on journalists anywhere threaten the conditions for accountability everywhere. We are closely watching the case of Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, and we stand with him and with all journalists and activists across the Gulf region who are paying a heavy price for telling the truth. 

On April 15, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)  published a petition calling on Kuwaiti authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Kuwaiti-American journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin.