World · Africa · 8 hrs ago
Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah faces retrial as authorities target news outlets
Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah faces a retrial over a 2024 case involving allegations of operating without a licence and publishing false news.
Attalah leads Mada Masr, an independent news outlet in Egypt, where authorities have ordered the outlet to close.
The court has also fined her three million Egyptian pounds for operating its website without a licence, and she was told she had received a one-year prison sentence in absentia in the earlier case.
Staff at fact-checking platform Matsadaash have also been detained, amid a wider crackdown on independent media.
Attalah says licensing rules have become a way to control and exclude news organisations, while her team has been left with little time for journalism as cases continue.
An appeal against the closure is scheduled for November 25, and Attalah's retrial is due to take place before then.
Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah is due to face a retrial over a 2024 case involving allegations of operating without a licence and publishing false news.
Attalah, head of independent news outlet Mada Masr, says the prosecution is part of efforts to restrict Egypt’s press.
Authorities have ordered Mada Masr to close and fined Attalah three million Egyptian pounds for operating its website without a licence.
The case comes amid other action against news outlets, including the detention of the entire staff of fact-checking platform Matsadaash.
Attalah was also sentenced to one year in prison in absentia in the 2024 case, and an appeal over the fine is scheduled for November 25.
- Who
- Lina Attalah, head of Mada Masr, is facing retrial.
- What
- The retrial concerns a 2024 case involving allegations of operating without a licence and publishing false news.
- When
- Wednesday; the article does not give a calendar date for the retrial.
- Where
- Egypt.
- Why
- The case concerns alleged operation of a news website without a licence and publishing false news.
Egyptian authorities
Lina Attalah
Press licensing
Egyptian authorities
Authorities fined Attalah for operating Mada Masr’s website without a licence.
Lina Attalah
Attalah said Mada Masr tried to apply for a licence and objected to licensing being used as a tool of control or exclusion.
Press freedom
Egyptian authorities
Authorities ordered Mada Masr’s closure and pursued cases against journalists.
Lina Attalah
Attalah said the prosecution was an attempt to limit the already-limited space for independent media.
Mada Masr was established in the aftermath of Egypt’s 2011 uprising.
Egypt passed the law under which Mada Masr sought a licence, according to Attalah.
Attalah was given a one-year prison sentence in absentia in a case involving operating without a licence and publishing false news.
A court fined Attalah three million Egyptian pounds for operating the website without a licence and ordered Mada Masr to close.
Attalah is due to face a retrial in the 2024 case.
An appeal over the fine is scheduled.
- Fine
- Three million Egyptian pounds, around $55,000
- Prison sentence
- One year, handed down in absentia in the 2024 case
- Mada Masr staff
- 50
- Journalists in prison in Egypt
- 26
- Appeal date
- November 25
What people are saying
It seems to be a new chapter in trying to limit the already-limited space that there is for independent media.
We're not against regulation; we have a problem when the licensing becomes a tool of control, a tool of exclusion.
It felt like I was being kidnapped from the courtroom.
So we are left with silence.