Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, subjected to ‘grave violations’ of fundamental rights, has Kuwaiti citizenship revoked

Washington, D.C., April 29, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Kuwaiti government’s decision to revoke the citizenship of U.S.-Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin and his two sisters, just days after his release from two months of wrongful detention.

“Stripping Shihab-Eldin of his citizenship is not just punitive, it is a dangerous escalation in the use of state power to crush press freedom,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “Weaponizing nationality to punish reporting sets a chilling precedent for every journalist in Kuwait and the Gulf.”

In an April 29 statement issued by international legal counsel representing Shihab-Eldin, he said: “I am free — but many remain behind bars in Kuwait and across the region for speaking the truth. Today, my sisters and I have become part of the more than 50,000 Kuwaitis who have had their citizenship revoked.”

The statement noted that Shihab-Eldin was “abducted and arrested” on March 3. “He was initially detained incommunicado, with no contact with his family, in two separate interrogation facilities and then moved to Kuwait Central Prison.” Kuwaiti authorities charged him with spreading false information, harming national security, and misusing his mobile phone. He was not acquitted of all charges, as had originally been understood. 

A judge acquitted Shihab-Eldin of the first charge on April 23 but refrained from pronouncing punishment, with a pledge of good conduct for six months without bail on the second and third charges, Shihab-Eldin’s lawyers confirmed. Lawyers are appealing that decision.

“Ahmed Shihab-Eldin is a superb journalist and storyteller,” lawyers Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC and Kate Gibson said in a statement. “For 52 days, he was wrongly imprisoned and endured repeated, grave violations of his fundamental rights due to his work. For reporting. For expressing opinions. For simply doing his job.”

They added: “We are relieved he is finally free, but he should never have been detained in the first place. And even now he faces a prosecution appeal, with the risk of criminalization and a custodial sentence for his journalism. We are now working with our client to seek accountability for what he has endured, and justice for those who remain unjustly detained in Kuwait.”

Since October 2024, Kuwait has revoked citizenship in a growing number of cases, with the total reaching over 71,000 as of April 15, 2026. This represents approximately 4.6% of Kuwait’s official population of more than 1.5 million.

In 2025, CPJ submitted a joint report to the United Nations Human Rights Council ahead of Kuwait’s Universal Periodic Review documenting an escalating crackdown on journalists and press freedom in the country.

CPJ emailed the Kuwaiti Embassy in Washington for comment but did not receive an immediate response.