Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / This hits close to home_ Kuwaiti-American journalist STILL detained 7 weeks later

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This hits close to home_ Kuwaiti-American journalist STILL detained 7 weeks later · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: Award winning Kuwaiti American journalist Ahma Chehbideen, who has contributed
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  Speaker 1: to PBS, Al Jazeera, Huffington Post, and The New York Times,
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  Speaker 1: was arrested on March third during a brief visit to Kuwait.
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  Speaker 2: According to the Committee to Protect.
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  Speaker 1: Journalists, As of now, he is still detained there. He
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  Speaker 1: is reportedly charged with spreading false information, harming national security,
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  Speaker 1: and misusing his mobile phone.
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  Speaker 2: Now. Just prior to.
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  Speaker 1: His detention, Chahbaden had commented publicly on videos and images
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  Speaker 1: related to the Iran war. His recent posts included this
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  Speaker 1: geolocated video verified by CNN showing a US fighter jet
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  Speaker 1: crashed near a US airbase in Kuwait. And just days
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  Speaker 1: after his arrest, Kuwait enacted a new law imposing prison
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  Speaker 1: sentences from up to ten years for anyone who quote,
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  Speaker 1: disseminates news, published his statements, or spreads false rumors related
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  Speaker 1: to military entities with the intent of undermining confidence in them. Now,
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  Speaker 1: for a lot of American journalists, this hits close to home.
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  Speaker 2: I've known Ahmed for almost two decades.
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  Speaker 1: He's also friends with our colleague Jacob Soboroff, who wrote
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  Speaker 1: on x this is horrific Ahmed is a kind, caring
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  Speaker 1: and wonderful human being.
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  Speaker 2: Free. Ahmed has not posted.
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  Speaker 1: Online since his detainment, and his social media accounts appear
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  Speaker 1: to be deleted.
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  Speaker 2: Joining us now is Jody Ginsburg's CEO of.
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  Speaker 1: The Committee to Protect Journalist organization, which launched a petition
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  Speaker 1: demanding Ahmed Jahbadeen be released immediately. Jody, it's good to
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  Speaker 1: have you back on the show. Unfortunate that it is
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  Speaker 1: under these circumstances, but let me just start with the basics.
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  Speaker 1: Do you have any new information about Ahmed's arrest, the
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  Speaker 1: legal proceedings that are pending, in any news about what's
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  Speaker 1: at stake for him and his family.
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  Speaker 3: Unfortunately, very little news. What we know, what we understand
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  Speaker 3: to have happened is as you say that he was
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  Speaker 3: detained on March the third, that's only seven weeks ago,
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  Speaker 3: and that is following increase in restrictions on freedom expression
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  Speaker 3: that we've seen in Cuate and also a number of
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  Speaker 3: golf countries in response to the Iran war, and it's
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  Speaker 3: extremely troubling. Iran has, sorry Kuwait has introduced a number
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  Speaker 3: of restrictions that have severe penalties up to ten years
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  Speaker 3: in jail and severe fines for people who breach these
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  Speaker 3: new laws that include a very vague undermining of the
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  Speaker 3: prestige of the military. And of course Quait has been
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  Speaker 3: criticized by bodies like the UN Committee Against Torture for
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  Speaker 3: malpractice against those in custody, including the use of torture
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  Speaker 3: and extreme punishment. So we're extremely worried about.
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  Speaker 4: Him, Jody, what has the State Department done to date?
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  Speaker 2: Have they been engaged, have they been using the.
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  Speaker 5: Full muscle of American diplomacy to try to bring armed
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  Speaker 5: home America.
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  Speaker 6: It's a good question. Well, the State Department have said.
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  Speaker 3: They're aware of the case that the US has no
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  Speaker 3: higher priority than the safety and security of Americans. But
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  Speaker 3: as yet, Ahmed has not been designated as wrongfully detained,
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  Speaker 3: and that's a really important designation. A few years ago,
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  Speaker 3: the US introduced something called the Levensinnat, which allows for
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  Speaker 3: the State Department to designate people as wrongfully detained, and
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  Speaker 3: that unleashes a much stronger response from the US government.
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  Speaker 3: It allows them to negotiate much more directly and allows
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  Speaker 3: them to impose sanctions against countries that have been involved
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  Speaker 3: in wrongfully detaining US citizens. So we think that he
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  Speaker 3: meets the criteria for this wrongful detention designation, and we
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  Speaker 3: strongly urge the State Department to designate Ahmed as wrongfully detained.
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  Speaker 5: Jody.
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  Speaker 4: The last time you came onto the show, it was
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  Speaker 4: to discuss the growing numbers of journalists who have been
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  Speaker 4: killed in Gaza, and I believe the count is now
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  Speaker 4: at two hundred and sixty two according to your organization.
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  Speaker 4: And we don't even speak to the broader climate of
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  Speaker 4: what has happened to journalists on the front lines of
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  Speaker 4: these stories right now, but over the last several years
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  Speaker 4: as well.
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  Speaker 3: Well as ever said to you before, now is the
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  Speaker 3: most dangerous time in the world to be of journalists.
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  Speaker 3: Of course, Gaza has been the deadliest place in the
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  Speaker 3: world for journalists. Israel has deliberately targeted journalists. Hundreds of
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  Speaker 3: journalists have been killed by Israel during the genocide in Gaza.
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  Speaker 3: But more broadly, we're seeing many, many more attacks in
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  Speaker 3: more places, including in the United States, against journalists, the
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  Speaker 3: smearing of journalists by those in power, the use of
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  Speaker 3: legal threats against journalists, the detention of journalists. Record numbers
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  Speaker 3: of journalists in journal in recent years, and in response
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  Speaker 3: to the Iran more in particular, we've seen a slew
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  Speaker 3: of new legislations and increased censorship in the Mina region
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  Speaker 3: in the Middle East region, but also in countries more
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  Speaker 3: broadly heard attempted restrictions here in the United States. So
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  Speaker 3: it is incredibly challenging time to be a journalist, and
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  Speaker 3: Alchemed's case is emblematic of that.
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  Speaker 5: I'd love to hear you talk a little bit more
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  Speaker 5: about the threats to press freedom here in the United States,
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  Speaker 5: particularly since I think of the United States historically as
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  Speaker 5: having been a great defender of press freedoms, not only
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  Speaker 5: because of our First Amendment here in the United States,
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  Speaker 5: but because it is a value that we have promoted
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  Speaker 5: elsewhere around the world. So I'm curious to what extent
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  Speaker 5: you think the examples that you characterized before happening in
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  Speaker 5: the United States, smears of journalists, threats to journalists, et cetera,
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  Speaker 5: may be emboldening the treatment of reporters elsewhere in the world.
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  Speaker 3: I think there's absolutely no doubt that the kinds of
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  Speaker 3: attacks with seeing on the press here in the United
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  Speaker 3: States is an emboldening those elsewhere. If you have a
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  Speaker 3: president who are called journalist enemies of the people, if
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  Speaker 3: you have a president that issues lawsuits against the press,
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  Speaker 3: receives restrictions on journalists, throws journalists out of the White
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  Speaker 3: House press pool, restrict journalists, and the Pentagon. Other countries
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  Speaker 3: look to that, and as you say, it's really important.
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  Speaker 3: The US has a long history of defending free press,
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  Speaker 3: both at home.
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  Speaker 6: And abroad, and.
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  Speaker 3: Of course, as we saw in previous detained cases for
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  Speaker 3: US citizens, including Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter
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  Speaker 3: detained in Russia, has been at the forefront of fighting
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  Speaker 3: for US citizens who have been persecuted and prosecuted for
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  Speaker 3: exercising their freedom of the press, and we very much
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  Speaker 3: hope that that will be the case with Ahmed as well.
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  Speaker 1: So Jody, when you look at what is happening across
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  Speaker 1: the Gulf, Iran, the US, there is no doubt that
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  Speaker 1: it's harder and harder to get information in a better understanding.
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  Speaker 1: What's happened in Iran obviously has cut off the Internet
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  Speaker 1: to the outside world. The only reliable information that comes
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  Speaker 1: out of there is hardly reliable because it's all state
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  Speaker 1: controlled media. Israel has very strict military censorship. The golf
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  Speaker 1: countries are limiting and restricting anyone who posts any information
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  Speaker 1: about it. Not exactly free press in those countries, and
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  Speaker 1: as you mentioned right now, the media in this country
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  Speaker 1: also albeit free to report on the war, not having
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  Speaker 1: access to get inside or run.
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  Speaker 2: But also we have our.
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  Speaker 1: Own restrictions that the Pedagon as to who can report
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  Speaker 1: on the Pedagon without signing various documents. It's a difficult
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  Speaker 1: time to be a journalist.
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  Speaker 2: But just talk to us about this specific.
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  Speaker 1: War, with the Iran war, and how that impedes our
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  Speaker 1: ability to understand what is actually happening on the ground
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  Speaker 1: in all of these countries that are affected by it.
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  Speaker 2: Well.
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  Speaker 3: One thing that's important to remember, of course, is that
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  Speaker 3: almost inevitably during a war, we see countries try to
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  Speaker 3: impose restrictions in the name of national security, and almost
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  Speaker 3: always that doesn't just target genuine national security issues but
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  Speaker 3: ends up covering a broad range of issues are essential
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  Speaker 3: for us to understand what's happening. You mentioned the blackouts
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  Speaker 3: that we have in Iran, making incredibly.
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  Speaker 6: Difficult to know what's happening.
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  Speaker 3: Their censorship of individuals just simply for posting other verified accounts,
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  Speaker 3: as we believe happened in Ahmed's.
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  Speaker 6: Case, That makes it extremely.
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  Speaker 3: Difficult for us as ordinary citizens to understand.
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  Speaker 6: What is happening. That's why we need journalists.
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  Speaker 3: We need journalists on the ground who can be our
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  Speaker 3: eyes and ears when we can't.
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  Speaker 6: Get into these places and see for ourselves, so that
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  Speaker 6: we can understand what's happening.
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  Speaker 1: Jody Ginsburg, thank you for all of your efforts to
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  Speaker 1: help the press around the world.