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The Committee to Protect Journalists is calling for the release of Kuwaiti American journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin after he was detained in Kuwait over social media posts during military escalations in the Iran war.
His arrest in early March came amid a widening crackdown on press freedom and social media posts on military activity documented across the Persian Gulf states and Israel.
Shihab-Eldin was visiting family in Kuwait, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), when the war in Iran broke out on Feb. 28, pulling in other countries in the region. He has not posted on social media or been seen in public in Kuwait since March 2.
The CPJ says Shihab-Eldin was detained by local authorities and charged with spreading false information, harming national security and misusing his cellphone, what it describes as “vague and overly broad accusations that are routinely used to silence independent journalists.”
“We call on Kuwait to release Ahmed Shihab-Eldin and drop all charges against him,” said CPJ regional director Sara Qudah, in a statement Tuesday.
“Journalism is not a crime, and Shihab-Eldin’s case reflects a broader pattern of using national security laws to stifle scrutiny and control the narrative.”
Countries under attack in the Middle East are tightening rules around images shared by journalists and citizens. For The National, CBC News chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault breaks down military censorship and how it’s changing some of what you see in this war.
CBC News reached out to the Kuwaiti Embassy in Washington, D.C., but did not receive an immediate response.
It is not clear which posts led to his detention, but the CPJ says prior to his arrest, Shihab-Eldin commented on publicly available videos and images related to the Iran war. His recent posts included a geolocated video, verified by CNN, showing a U.S. fighter jet crash near a U.S. air base in Kuwait.
His Instagram, Facebook and X accounts all appear to be inactive as of April 14, with the websites noting the account “does not exist” or “is not available.”
Ashish Prashar, a New York-based political strategist and former Middle East peace envoy advisor, condemned Shihab-Eldin’s arrest.
“To imprison a journalist arbitrarily and label their work as endangering national security is a grave misstep. The state department needs to demand the release of Ahmed,” Prashar said in a post on X on Tuesday. “Anything less would be an endorsement of authoritarian practices.”
A social media video circulating online and verified by Reuters, which checked the surrounding layout in the video against satellite imagery, showed a military plane falling in Kuwait’s Al Jahra area. Kuwait and U.S. military officials have confirmed the crash of U.S. military aircraft but provided few details, saying crews members survived.
Countries in the Middle East have strict military censorship rules, aimed largely at preventing the release of information that could help enemy combatants. Shortly after the war broke out, Kuwait’s Ministry of the Interior warned against filming or publishing videos or information related to Iranian attacks, noting that several people were arrested for spreading false news.
CBC News reported on the arrests in the region, including in Kuwait, after they were detained for posting social media videos mocking the government and for using drones to film air strikes.
Since Feb. 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran, and Tehran retaliated with attacks across the region, CPJ said it has documented arrests of journalists, interference with reporting, airstrikes damaging media infrastructure and sweeping restrictions on coverage both in the region and globally.
According to the organization, nine journalists have been killed and 11 have been detained or questioned across the wider region since the war began. Meanwhile, nine media outlets have been damaged in airstrikes and some 16 journalists have been targeted, assaulted, threatened or harassed.
CPJ has also documented censorship measures across several Middle East countries, including a nationwide internet blackout imposed in Iran on Feb. 28, shortly after it was lifted amid a deadly crackdown on mass protests in January.
