Ahmed Shihab-Eldin (; born September 16, 1984) is a Kuwaiti journalist and media personality of Palestinian descent.

Career

He formerly worked at ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...

'' and

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, and was a senior reporter for Al Jazeera Plus from 2017 through 2020. In 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, he began moving towards other creative pursuits, creating a parody account on the short video platform

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

and suggesting that he might begin

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

ing. He replied, in character, to a video by the

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and

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star Faiza Rammuny and it went viral, launching this leg of his career. In 2023, he produced and presented an investigative documentary ''Queer Egypt Under Attack'' for

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

focussing on the treatment of LGBT people in Egypt.

Awards and recognition

In 2008, he won a

Webby Award The Webby Awards (colloquially referred to as the Webbys) are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over three thousand industry experts a ...

for master's digital media project, "Defining Middle Ground: The Next Generation of Muslim New Yorkers." In 2023 he won he won an Amnesty International UK Media Award in Digital Creativity for his documentary ''Queer Egypt Under Attack'', which also earned him a British Journalism Award for Social Affairs, Diversity & Inclusion. In December 2024, he shared

Amnesty International Australia Amnesty International Australia is a section of the Amnesty International network, and is part of the global movement promoting and defending human rights and dignity. Concerns and campaigns Human rights in the Asia-Pacific region is a key con ...

's inaugural Human Rights Defender Award with Palestinian journalists

Bisan Owda Bisan Owda (; born 1997 or 1998) is a Palestinian journalist, activist, and filmmaker. She is best known for her social media videos documenting her experiences during the Gaza war in the Gaza Strip. She won a 2024 Peabody Award in the News cat ...

, Plestia Alaqad, and Anas Al-Sharif for "the significant impact of their fearless reporting on the alleged

genocide in Gaza According to a Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People, United Nations Special Committee, Amnesty International, and other experts, Israel is committing genocide in Gaza against ...

, their innovative use of social media and citizen journalism to challenge traditional narratives and their ability to inspire action for justice."

References

Living people 1984 births 21st-century American journalists 21st-century Palestinian journalists 21st-century Palestinian LGBTQ people American bloggers American male journalists American Muslims American people of Kuwaiti descent American people of Palestinian descent American LGBTQ journalists Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni HuffPost writers and columnists Kuwaiti people of Palestinian descent LGBTQ Muslims Palestinian LGBTQ rights activists {{US-journalist-1980s-stub