{"id":16987,"date":"2026-04-08T18:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T18:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/16987\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T18:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T18:51:09","slug":"american-journalist-shelly-kittleson-has-been-released-after-being-kidnapped-in-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/16987\/","title":{"rendered":"American Journalist Shelly Kittleson Has Been Released After Being Kidnapped in Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"

The American journalist who was kidnapped in Baghdad<\/a>, Iraq, has been released.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am pleased to announce the release of American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was recently kidnapped by members of the foreign terrorist organization Kata\u2019ib Hizballah near Baghdad, Iraq,\u201d U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in a Tuesday, April 7 X post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. Department of State extends its appreciation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation<\/a>, the Department of War, U.S. personnel across multiple agencies, and the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council and our Iraqi partners, for their assistance in securing her release,\u201d Rubio added.<\/p>\n

Rubio went on to state that the resolution \u201creflects the Trump Administration\u2019s steadfast commitment to the safety and security of American citizens, no matter where they are in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder President [Donald] Trump, the wrongful detention or kidnapping of U.S. nationals will not be tolerated. We will continue to use every tool to bring Americans home and to hold accountable those responsible. We are relieved that this American is now free and are working to support her safe departure from Iraq,\u201d his statement concluded.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Instagram\/@shellyrkittleson<\/p>\n

Kittleson\u2019s abduction raised international concern last month, when TMZ<\/a> published a report on March 31 claiming the journalist, who works for Al-Monitor, was taken by \u201cunknown people\u201d in Baghdad, citing a statement from Iraq\u2019s Interior Ministry.<\/p>\n

The incident reportedly occurred near the Palestine Hotel on Al-Saadoun Street, a central area of the city.<\/p>\n

Kittleson had been reporting in the region, including the tensions between the U.S., Israel and Iran<\/a>. The Iraqi government said it was actively searching for her at the time.<\/p>\n

According to the Associated Press<\/a>, the militia behind Kittleson\u2019s kidnapping said she was released on the condition that she \u201cleave the country immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking on anonymity, two officials within the militia told the AP that in exchange for Kittleson\u2019s release, several members of the group who had previously been detained by Iraqi authorities would be released.<\/p>\n

This story American Journalist Shelly Kittleson Has Been Released After Being Kidnapped in Iraq<\/a> first appeared on National Enquirer<\/a>. Add National Enquirer as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The American journalist who was kidnapped in Baghdad, Iraq, has been released. \u201cI am pleased to announce the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[121],"tags":[1060,13315,13233,7564,13314,6305,13183,13184,186,10022],"class_list":{"0":"post-16987","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-marco-rubio","8":"tag-american","9":"tag-american-citizens","10":"tag-american-journalist","11":"tag-baghdad","12":"tag-federal-bureau-of-investigation","13":"tag-iraq","14":"tag-iraqi-supreme-judicial-council","15":"tag-kittleson","16":"tag-marco-rubio","17":"tag-u-s-department-of-state"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116370596372795999","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}