The editor-in-chief of the independent Egyptian news outlet Mada Masr has been taken into custody after a court convicted her of managing an unlicensed website and ordered its closure, her lawyers say. Lina Attalah will be held until she pays the fine of 3m Egyptian pounds ($53,500; £40,100) also handed down by the New Cairo Misdemeanours Court. It was the maximum possible penalty for the charge, which she had rejected.
The human rights group Amnesty International said the verdict represented "a crushing blow to press freedom". It comes only weeks after six journalists working for the independent fact-checking platform Matsda2sh were charged with belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt is among the top jailers of journalists globally, with 25 currently behind bars, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has overseen what human rights groups say is an unprecedented crackdown on dissent since he led the military's overthrow of his predecessor, Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsi, in 2013. Tens of thousands of people have been detained, mainly Brotherhood officials and supporters but also leading secular and liberal activists, media workers and academics. Egyptian journalists from fact-checking website facing terrorism charges AI 'SpongeBob' parody of problems in Egypt draws scrutiny of authorities TV presenter among 12 sentenced to death in Egypt drugs case The CPJ said Mada Masr, which was founded in 2013, was a vital source of critical reporting in Egypt and that it had long faced pressure from authorities over its journalism.
The site had repeatedly sought an operating licence from the Supreme Media Regulatory Council (SMRC) since a new media law was passed in 2018, but that its applications were either rejected or left unanswered, the media watchdog added. Amnesty International said Lina Attalah had also faced "years of harassment and intimidation", including six criminal investigations over Mada Masr's reporting. Last week, prosecutors summoned her for questioning over allegations of publishing "false news" and operating a website without a licence.
Mada Masr's lawyer said the investigation included a recent report that the website had published about a wave of protests in prisons across the country, as well as a letter from the SMRC regarding its legal status. Attalah was released on bail and later referred to trial before the New Cairo Misdemeanours Court on the charge of operating a website without a licence. During Tuesday's hearing, Judge Mohammed Mubarak ordered the courtroom to be cleared of everyone except Attalah, her eight-person defence team, and Hossam Bahgat, head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), an independent human rights group.
Bahgat told news agency that security personnel then filed in before the judge announced that the court was denying several procedural requests made by the defence and appointing its own lawyer for Attalah. "In a move that astonished all those present, the judge recorded in the official court minutes that the court had appointed a lawyer from the Lawyers' Syndicate to represent the defence," he said. "Lina herself spoke up to object to this lawyer being appointed to represent her, which the judge refused to record in the court minutes.
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