Prominent Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah, editor-in-chief of the independent news website Mada Masr, has been released from custody following the payment of a 3 million Egyptian pound ($53,500; £40,100) fine. Her release came after a Cairo court convicted her of operating an unlicensed website and ordered the news outlet to shut down, triggering widespread criticism from global rights organizations.
Attalah was briefly detained in the courtroom after legal proceedings where a judge assigned her a defense attorney before security officials took her into custody. Legal representative Hassan al-Azhari confirmed her release after the fine was remitted. He revealed that during the process, the legal team discovered Attalah had previously been sentenced in absentia in 2024 to one year in prison alongside an additional 20,000 Egyptian pound fine.
The defense team has appealed the prior conviction, with a retrial hearing officially scheduled for 11 November. Mada Masr noted that although this marks the sixth legal case brought against the organization over six years, it is the first instance where a case of this nature was referred to a full trial.
Attalah founded Mada Masr in 2013 after gaining international prominence during the 2011 Arab Spring. A longtime advocate for press freedom, she has faced multiple arrests throughout her career. Mada Masr stated that it applied for an official operating license three years ago but never received a response from Egyptian authorities.
The judicial action against Attalah follows the recent arrests of the entire six-person team at the independent fact-checking platform Matsadaash, who were charged with belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood. Human rights groups view these developments as a significant escalation in state pressure against remaining independent press channels. According to “This escalation validates our fears that the arrest and continued detention of the six Matsadaash journalists would signal a crackdown of unprecedented magnitude,”, Bahgat. “It risks fully eviscerating the narrow ma. Outlets and human rights organisations despite frequent harassment, including through legal avenues.”.
Hossam Bahgat, head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), warned that security agencies are transitioning from harassing independent press to eliminating it entirely. He emphasized that the targeting of Mada Masr and Matsadaash threatens to eliminate the narrow margin of press freedom maintained in Egypt over the last decade.
Rights organizations connect the intensifying crackdown to recent public statements by Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. Since August, President al-Sisi has repeatedly warned of destabilization plots, asserting his intention to remain in power until 2030 to protect the nation from internal threats. According to he has, He intended to remain in power until 2030 to protect Egypt from “traitors, criminals, and saboteurs”.
International media advocacy groups strongly condemned the court decision. Reporters Without Borders labeled the verdict shameful and demanded an immediate end to legal actions against Attalah, while Amnesty International characterized the ruling as a devastating blow to free expression. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Egypt remains one of the world’s leading jailers of media workers, with 25 journalists currently imprisoned. A joint statement issued by PEN International alongside dozens of civil society groups warned that escalating legal cases to full trials demonstrates a clear attempt to permanently close the country’s independent media space. With 25 currently behind bars, according to the CPJ, egypt is among the top jailers of journalists globally.
