Authored by Chris Hedges via Consortium News
Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, a fearless Palestinian-American journalist (he's an American-born Kuwaiti of Palestinian descent) whose writing and reports are defined by unparalleled integrity, depth and eloquence, was arrested on March 3rd in Kuwait.
He is charged withspreading false information and harming national security.
His arrest took place following his reporting of the shooting down ofthreeU.S. fighter planes by the Kuwaiti military in an act of friendly fireduring the U.S.-Israel war with Iran. Ahmed, along with other news outlets such as theBBC, publishedfootageof a U.S. 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 forThe New York Times, PBS Frontline, Al Jazeera English, Viceon HBO,The Huffington Postand appeared on numerous news outlets including the BBC and CNN,will be charged under new, draconian security lawsinstituted in Kuwait, which have already led to dozens of arbitrary arrests.
Kuwait has desperately tried to maintain the fiction that it did not serve as a staging area for US attacks on Iran.
The NY Times had also confirmedthis week:
The arrest of the journalist, Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, whichKuwaiti authorities had yet to publicly confirm, would beone of many detentions across the Persian Gulfas governments there try to repress information about local effects of the war in Iran.
“It is understood that authorities have charged him with spreading false information,harming national security and misusing his mobile phone— vague and overly broad accusations that are routinely used to silence independent journalists,” the committee said in astatement.
He had not posted online or been seen in public since early March, it said. His Twitter and Instagram accounts appeared to have been deleted.
Source: ZeroHedge News
