Columbia Journalism School calls for the immediate release of Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, '07 M.S., an American and Kuwaiti citizen who was detained by Kuwaiti authorities on or about March 3, 2026. Mr. Shihab-Eldin is a veteran journalist who is both a graduate of and a former adjunct professor at Columbia Journalism School. He has also worked for the New York Times, Vice News, PBS and Al Jazeera English. His arrest fits into a disturbing pattern of repression of the press amid the United States and Israel war with Iran. Shortly before his arrest Mr. Shihab-Eldin published a Substack post commenting on publicly available videos and images relating to the Iran war. As the Committee to Protect Journalists noted, Kuwait’s government has prohibited publishing images or videos related to the war and is believed to have charged Mr. Shihab-Eldin with overly vague offenses of misusing his cellphone and spreading false information. Moreover, these restrictions prohibit the publication of information that might offend friendly nations or impact Kuwait’s foreign relations. This constitutes a prohibition of journalism itself. Ahmed Shihab-Eldin’s detention raises serious concerns about press censorship and the criminalization of reportage on the ongoing conflict in the Gulf region.
We have seen the language of national security deployed with increasing regularity to justify curtailing press freedoms not simply in Kuwait but throughout the region and in the United States. We invite all people who take seriously the necessity of a free and unfettered press to join us in demanding that Ahmed Shihab-Eldin be released from detention, along with any and all other journalists who have been subject to the same wrongful treatment. More information on Mr. Shihab-Eldin’s case can be found here.
Signed,
The Faculty of Columbia Journalism School
