The Arab and Middle East Journalists Association (AMEJA) joins press freedom organizations in calling for the immediate and unconditional release of American-Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin.
Ahmed Shihab-Eldin’s prolonged detention by Kuwaiti authorities is deeply alarming. He faces vague and overly broad accusations, including “spreading false information, harming national security, and misusing his mobile phone,” charges Committee to Protect Journalists describes as “vague and overly broad accusations that are routinely used to silence independent journalists.” His detention reportedly stems from social media posts that included a geolocated video, verified by CNN, showing a U.S. fighter jet crash near a U.S. air base in Kuwait. The material in question was publicly available and subject to standard journalistic verification practices.
Journalism, including the verification and contextualization of open-source material, is a core function of a free and informed society. Detaining a journalist for reporting on publicly available information is not a legitimate exercise of national security, and criminalizing such work sets a dangerous precedent that extends beyond one journalist and undermines the ability of all reporters to operate safely and independently.
Ahmed Shihab-Eldin is a respected journalist with deep ties to the Arab and Middle Eastern media community, and his detention sends a chilling signal to journalists across the region and diaspora.
The public has a right to information. AMEJA stands with press freedom organizations in asserting clearly: journalism is not a crime. We call on Kuwaiti authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Ahmed Shihab-Eldin and to uphold their obligations to protect the press.
#FreeAhmed #JournalismIsNotACrime #FreeAhmedEldin
Note: This statement references Committee to Protect Journalists and CNN as described in the statement text.