A Cairo court convicted Lina Attalah, editor-in-chief of the independent news outlet Mada Masr, of managing an unlicensed website. Attalah was briefly detained and released after the outlet paid a fine of 3 million Egyptian pounds (approximately $53,500). The court ordered Mada Masr to shut down.
Attalah's lawyer Hassan al-Azhari told AFP that she had been sentenced in absentia in 2024 to one year in prison and a fine of 20,000 Egyptian pounds. A retrial hearing is scheduled for 11 November. Mada Masr, founded by Attalah in 2013, stated it had applied for an operating licence three years ago and received no response from Egyptian authorities.
The closure order follows the recent arrest of six journalists from the independent factchecking platform Matsadaash, who were charged with belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Hossam Bahgat, head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, said at the court hearing that the moves represent an escalation from harassment to attempts at eliminating independent media entirely. He stated the actions risk "fully eviscerating the narrow margin of press freedoms" that have existed in Egypt over the past decade.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights attributes the recent crackdown to statements by President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi since August, in which he has claimed a conspiracy to destabilise the country and said he intends to remain in power until 2030.
Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Amnesty International and Pen International all condemned the verdict. The CPJ reported that Egypt currently holds 25 journalists in prison.