An Egyptian court ordered the closure of the independent outlet Mada Masr, fined editor-in-chief Lina Attalah and ordered her detention until the fine is paid.
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An Egyptian court ordered the closure of Mada Masr, one of Egypt’s last independent news outlets, after convicting its editor-in-chief of operating a website without a license.
Mada Masr said the editor-in-chief and founder, Lina Attalah, was ordered to pay a fine equivalent to about $53,400. After the verdict, the judge ordered Attalah detained until the fine is paid.
The outlet is known for investigations into corruption, the expanding role of Egypt’s powerful military and human rights violations. Ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, Human Rights Watch called the prosecution an escalation and described it as “an outrageous attack on independent media.”
Attalah’s lead lawyer, Hassan el-Azhary, said Mada Masr planned to appeal the closure order, adding: “Today’s decision represents a crushing blow to press freedom in Egypt and marks a dark day for independent journalism in the country.” Amnesty International said the authorities were sending “a clear and ruthless message” by imposing a large fine, ordering the closure of Mada Masr and seizing its property, while “detaining Lina Attalah until payment is made.”
During Tuesday’s session at a Cairo misdemeanor court, the judge rejected procedural requests from the defence and ordered lawyers to give closing arguments immediately, according to Hossam Bahgat, head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, who said he attended the session. Bahgat said that when Attalah’s eight lawyers refused, the judge brought in a court-appointed lawyer none of them knew, over objections from the defence and from Attalah herself.
Bahgat said the judge declined to enter Attalah’s rejection of the lawyer into the record. State security prosecutors summoned Attalah for questioning last week on charges of publishing false news and operating without a license, then referred her to trial on the latter charge.
Mada Masr said it first applied for a license in 2018 but never received an answer. The outlet says authorities have blocked its website inside Egypt since 2017 and that the closure order is the sixth case brought against Mada Masr or its journalists in six years.
Amnesty International and 118 other civil society groups and independent media outlets worldwide had called on Egyptian authorities to stop targeting Mada Masr and grant it a license. Khaled Elbalshy, head of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate, said in a Facebook post that the organization is standing by and supporting Attalah’s case, calling it “a wake-up call” that “runs counter to the demands” for removing press restrictions and media reform.
The case comes amid a broader crackdown on independent media. In late September, security forces arrested six journalists from the investigative platform Matsdaash, and they remain in pretrial detention on charges including joining and financing a terrorist group and spreading false news. Egypt ranks 169th among 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ 2026 World Press Freedom Index.
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