In 2009, Shehabi moved to Bahrain, where she worked as a lecturer in economics at a private Bahraini university.[2]
Shehabi took part in the 2011 Bahraini Uprising, helping to run a media centre, covering the events and attending protests at Pearl Roundabout.[2][5][6][4] Shortly afterward, her husband was arrested for political reasons, and she was dismissed from her job, being told she was "a risk" to the university. Without a job, she began working as a political activist.[7] She founded Bahrain Watch, which advocates for press freedom in the country.[7][8]
In April 2012, Shehabi was arrested during the Formula One Grand Prix in Bahrain, although she was later released.[5] She has reported that following her release, she was sent multiple emails and messages with spyware, which she presumed were sent by the Bahraini government.[5]
In 2015 she was an editor, along with Marc Owen Jones, on Bahrain's Uprising: Resistance and Repression in the Gulf, an anthology about Bahraini resistance in the early 2010s.[9]
Shehabi has published research through the RAND Corporation on healthcare in the United Kingdom.[10] Shehabi has written for Al Jazeera[11] and The Guardian.[12]
Shehabi is a lecturer in Middle Eastern Politics at University College London.[6][13]