Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah detained after court orders news site's closure

Key points

• Lina Attalah, editor-in-chief of Mada Masr, was convicted of managing an unlicensed website and ordered held until she pays a 3m Egyptian pound fine.
• The New Cairo Misdemeanours Court also ordered Mada Masr's closure; Amnesty International called the verdict a crushing blow to press freedom.
• Egypt is among the top jailers of journalists globally, with 25 currently behind bars, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Lina Attalah, 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 said. The New Cairo Misdemeanours Court fined her 3m Egyptian pounds ($53,500; £40,100), the maximum penalty for the charge, and she will be held until she pays, according to the report.

The verdict drew condemnation from Amnesty International, which said it represented "a crushing blow to press freedom". The case comes weeks after six journalists working for the independent fact-checking platform Matsda2sh were charged with belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Court proceedings and reaction

During Tuesday's hearing, Judge Mohammed Mubarak cleared the courtroom except for Attalah, her eight-person defence team and Hossam Bahgat, head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. Bahgat told AFP that the judge denied several procedural requests, appointed a lawyer for Attalah and dictated motions on behalf of that lawyer, who had not spoken. Attalah objected to the appointment, but the judge refused to record her objection, Bahgat said.

Amnesty International's Yasmine Ahmed said the ruling was "the culmination of years of relentless harassment and unjust proceedings" aimed at shutting down one of Egypt's last independent media voices. CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah said that if Egypt can detain "one of its most respected editors" and close her newsroom, no independent journalist in the country is safe, and called for Attalah's immediate release.

If Egypt can put in custody one of its most respected editors and shut down her newsroom, no independent journalist in the country is safe.

— Sara Qudah, CPJ Regional Director

Licensing dispute and wider crackdown

The CPJ said Mada Masr, founded in 2013, had repeatedly sought an operating licence from the Supreme Media Regulatory Council since a 2018 media law, but its applications were rejected or left unanswered. Amnesty said Attalah had faced years of harassment and intimidation, including six criminal investigations over the site's reporting. Last week, prosecutors summoned her over allegations of publishing "false news" and operating a website without a licence.

Egypt is among the top jailers of journalists globally, with 25 currently behind bars, according to the CPJ. President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has overseen what human rights groups describe as an unprecedented crackdown on dissent since he led the military's overthrow of Mohammed Morsi in 2013, with tens of thousands detained, including media workers and academics.