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Temporarily stranded in the Gulf after the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran, world traveller Gabriel Morris was only saved from potential arrest by spotty Wi-Fi
08:55, Wed, Mar 11, 2026 Updated: 09:14, Wed, Mar 11, 2026
Gabriel says his story is a 'cautionary tale' for social media users (Image: YouTube/GabrielTraveller)
A veteran world traveller who has visited more than 90 countries has told of a particularly narrow escape he had as the US and Israel began their war on Iran.
Gabriel Morris, who has been documenting his travels over the past three decades in a series of books and on his YouTube channel, has told how he came perilously close to being arrested in the Gulf state of Qatar for breaching local regulations.
He explained: “This is going to be both a story telling what happened as well as a cautionary tale, a warning for social media influencers in particular, but also people in general sharing information online.”
While those of us who have lived most of our lives in the West will be accustomed to the idea of saying more-or-less whatever we feel like saying on social media, there are some parts of the world where that is very much not the case.
“Qatar,” Gabriel said, “has arrested 194 people for what they refer to as spreading misinformation online, specifically related to the war that is ongoing. And I came very close to being one of the people who could have been arrested there.”
The conflict has already spread beyond Iran's borders, with Israeli strikes on Beirut (Image: Getty)
On March 5, Qatar’s Ministry of Interior announced: “The Economic and Cyber Crimes Combating Department at the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation has arrested 194 individuals of various nationalities for filming and circulating video clips, as well as publishing misleading information and rumours that incite public opinion and violate the instructions issued by the relevant authorities.”
Within days, that figure had risen to over 300, with the authorities reiterating the the importance of “refraining from filming or sharing videos related to the ongoing situation”.
Gabriel says he, himself, had made a video discussing the current situation in Qatar: "Somebody contacted me, sent me a message sating that there are reports circulating that the interceptor missiles that are shooting down the Iranian missiles and drones that are attacking the Gulf States are running low and they could run out within a few days.”
Sensibly, Gabriel checked a few other resources before accepting this information as true, but he found a number of sources suggesting that defensive missile installations across the Gulf states were indeed running low on ammunition.
He continued: “That was a wakeup call because of course if those interceptor missiles run out and they don't have them any more, then the missiles that Iran is shooting at its targets can get through and there's going to be a lot more destruction.”
Iranian missiles continue to rain down across the region (Image: Getty)
Gabriel decided that it was his responsibility to share the information he’d been given, but perhaps fortunately it didn’t work out: “I decided to make a video about this report because it seemed like very, very relevant information for people to have who were stuck there.
“If this was true, then people should know it. So I filmed a video just talking about if for about 10 minutes and then started uploading it while I was getting packed, but the Wi-Fi at the hotel wasn't very fast and so that didn’t happen.
“As it turns out, that might have saved my butt. That's speculating… but still, that video almost certainly violates the law that people were getting arrested for.”
He says that he is unlikely to visit Qatar again, "even for a layover," for fear of being arrested for what he's already said.
Gabriel says he won't be visiting Qatar 'any time soon' (Image: YouTube/GabrielTraveller)
Gabriel adds that while he understands that the Qatari government needs to do all it can to prevent unnecessary panic, the fact remains that if the Gulf States are running out of defensive missiles, the public have a right to know.
In the early stages of the conflict, the UAE government issued a statement denying rumours that interceptor missile stocks were running low, which read in part: “The UAE … maintains a robust strategic stockpile of munitions, ensuring sustained interception and response capabilities over extended periods.”
However, since then Iran has continued to bombard US-allied states with countless comparatively-cheap Shahed kamikaze drones, while the US has reportedly been forced to withdraw some missile batteries from its bases in South Korea to bolster defences across the Middle East.
Against that background, Gabriel says, his report on what he he saw an heard within Qatar could well have been deemed dangerous: “Imagine if I had been able to upload the video [and] posted it.”
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At that point, he would still have been at least an hour away from reaching the Qatari border: “It is within the realm of possibility that this could have been picked up by the Qatari government. They certainly have people who are watching social media and seeing what people are saying..”
But for a slight problem with his internet connection, Gabriel says, he could easily have become one of the hundreds who have been arrested in Qatar.
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