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Kuwait has arrested a prominent international reporter for doing his job. The Kuwaiti government is threatening to imprison him under a set of new and harsh national security laws.
Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, a fearless Palestinian-American journalist whose writing and reports are defined by unparalleled integrity, depth and eloquence, was arrested on March 3 in Kuwait.
He is charged with spreading false information and harming national security.
His arrest took place following his reporting of the shooting down of three U.S. fighter planes by the Kuwaiti military in an act of friendly fire during the US-Israel war with Iran. Ahmed, along with other news outlets such as the BBC, published footage of a US F-15 E Strike Eagle crashing in al-Jahra west of Kuwait City.
I fear Ahmed, a graduate of Columbia Journalism School who has worked for The New York Times, PBS Frontline, Al Jazeera English, Vice on HBO, The Huffington Post and appeared on numerous news outlets including the BBC and CNN, will be charged under new, draconian security laws instituted in Kuwait, which have already led to dozens of arbitrary arrests.
You can see an interview I did with Ahmed when we were with Francesca Albanese, Greta Thunberg, Yanis Varoufakis and striking dock workers in Italy in November to protest the genocide in Gaza here. Ahmed is also featured in the film we made about the protests, Resistance 101.
Kuwait has desperately tried to maintain the fiction that it did not serve as a staging area for U.S. attacks on Iran.
Iran repeatedly attacked Kuwait, including strikes on Kuwait International Airport, the Ali Al Salem Air Base, the U.S. garrison at Camp Buehring and an operations center that saw six U.S. soldiers killed and dozens wounded. Iran also attacked the Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery and a Kuwaiti oil tanker.
France 24 broadcast a video of HIMARS missiles allegedly being fired from Kuwait into Iran. Ahmed’s reporting also undercut the lie of Kuwaiti neutrality. The Kuwaiti authorities will, I expect, for this reason, seek to turn Ahmed into an example for the rest of the press.
Please contact the Kuwait Embassy in Washington today to call for Ahmed’s release.
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