Egyptian court orders Mada Masr closed and fines editor Lina Attalah
The Cairo ruling orders the independent news website shut and its equipment confiscated. Editor Lina Attalah was taken into custody after her conviction for operating without a licence.
A Cairo court ordered independent Egyptian news website Mada Masr closed on Tuesday, 27 October, after convicting its editor-in-chief, Lina Attalah, of operating it without a licence, Reuters reported. Attalah was taken into custody, and the ruling threatens an outlet whose website has already been blocked inside Egypt since 2017.
Attalah was fined 3 million Egyptian pounds, according to her lawyers, Reuters reported. Mada Masr said the court also ordered its equipment confiscated. Reuters described Attalah as being held pending bail; the BBC reported that she would be held until she paid the fine. The reports do not clarify the precise conditions for her release.
Mada Masr’s licence dispute
Mada Masr says it has repeatedly sought a licence from Egypt’s Supreme Council for Media Regulation since 2018. It says it learned an earlier application had been rejected only when prosecutors raised the issue in a 2022 case, challenged that decision in court, and has awaited a response to its latest application since 2023, according to Reuters.
The BBC reported that Attalah rejected the charge of managing an unlicensed website. Reuters said the council had not commented on this case, although it has said generally that it facilitates applications from outlets meeting official requirements and supports freedom of expression. Egyptian authorities say media must operate within the law, respect national security and counter misinformation.
Press freedom groups respond to the ruling
After prosecutors referred Attalah to trial on Thursday, 22 October, 119 rights groups and media outlets, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Committee to Protect Journalists, called the case an ‘unprecedented attack on press freedom’, Reuters reported. Following the verdict, Amnesty called it a crushing blow to press freedom and demanded that it be overturned, according to the BBC.
Hossam Bahgat of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said the judge cleared the courtroom, rejected defence requests and appointed a lawyer for Attalah before ordering the closure amid defence protests, the BBC reported. That account of the proceedings is Bahgat’s. Reuters reported that the fine and closure were the maximum penalties available in the case.
Founded in 2013, Mada Masr regularly covers politically sensitive subjects in an Egyptian media landscape largely dominated by state-owned or state-affiliated outlets, Reuters reported. Mada Masr says six cases have been brought against it and its journalists in the past six years; rights groups say this is the first such case referred to trial. Whether the closure order has been carried out was not immediately clear.
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Sources and context
- Court orders Egyptian website closed in case seen as test for independent mediaReuters, carried by The Straits Times
- Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah detained after court orders Mada Masr's closureBBC News
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.