Law and Democracy Support Foundation (LDSF) condemns the ruling issued today by the Ninth Circuit of the New Cairo Misdemeanor Court, which imposed a fine of EGP 3 million on journalist Lina Attalah, Editor-in-Chief of Mada Masr, ordered her detention until the fine is paid, shut down the website, confiscated its equipment, and authorized her continued detention by security forces pending payment of the financial penalty.
This ruling comes amid a renewed crackdown by the Egyptian authorities on independent journalism. Within less than two weeks, Lina Attalah was summoned for questioning, investigated, referred to trial, and ultimately convicted. The ruling also follows only weeks after all journalists working for the platform Matsada’ash inside Egypt were targeted, referred to the Supreme State Security Prosecution on fabricated charges, and placed in pretrial detention pending investigation.
During the very first court hearing, and in proceedings that fell far short of fair trial standards, the court rejected all defense requests, including requests to review the case file and allow the defense team adequate access to examine the evidence and prepare its case. Instead, the court insisted on giving the defense only a brief opportunity to review the materials and plead its case during the same session, depriving counsel of the time and opportunity necessary to challenge and respond to the evidence effectively.
At the same time, several journalists were prevented from entering the courthouse, including Iman Ouf, Chair of the Freedoms Committee and a member of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate Council. The judgment against Lina Attalah and Mada Masr was issued after the presiding judge rejected defense requests to postpone the proceedings until the full case file could be reviewed, arguing that it was merely a “simple licensing case” that did not warrant adjournment.
When the defense team insisted on its right to examine the evidence, obtain the relevant documents, and receive adequate time to prepare its arguments, as required by the guarantees of a fair trial and the right to an effective defense, the court took the extraordinary step of appointing a lawyer from outside the defense team, unknown to both Lina Attalah and her legal representatives, despite their explicit objection. The presiding judge then proceeded to record requests on behalf of the appointed lawyer that he had not actually made, before reading the conviction verdict. Members of the defense team protested these actions, but the judge refused to record their objections in the official minutes. Lina Attalah was subsequently removed from the courtroom and taken to an undisclosed location under highly irregular circumstances, raising serious concerns about the fairness and integrity of the proceedings and reinforcing the impression that the outcome had been predetermined.
This marks the sixth case brought against Mada Masr, its journalists, and its editor-in-chief over the past six years. The most recent previous case occurred in August 2025, when Lina Attalah was interrogated on allegations of spreading false news and operating an unlicensed website following the publication of a report on prisoners’ complaints of abuses in detention facilities. She was later released pending investigation on bail of EGP 30,000.
The first hearing in Lina Attalah’s trial took place only days after she had been summoned for questioning by the Supreme State Security Prosecution in Case No. 9072 of 2026. During that investigation, she was accused of operating a website without a license and “publishing false information with the aim of disturbing public order.” She was released on financial bail before being referred to trial.
Mada Masr had repeatedly applied for a license since 2018 but never received a final official response. During one of the recurring security summonses of the site’s managing editor, the outlet learned that the application had been denied without any formal or reasoned notification. The website subsequently challenged the decision before the administrative courts, which upheld the regulator’s decision in May 2023 and rejected the licensing request. At the same time, another licensing application submitted in 2023 remains unanswered. This demonstrates how Egypt’s licensing framework has been used as a tool to restrict independent journalism, impose prior restraints on publication and access to information, and grant the executive branch broad discretion to approve or deny licenses without clear standards or safeguards.
LDSF calls on the Egyptian authorities to halt their ongoing assault on press freedom and the right to access information, overturn this unjust ruling against Lina Attalah and remove all of its legal consequences, rescind the decision to close Mada Masr and confiscate its equipment, and guarantee the outlet’s ability to complete its licensing procedures.
The Foundation further calls on the authorities to stop using criminal proceedings to address issues related to media licensing and to end the criminalization of independent journalistic work.
LDSF also urges the Egyptian authorities to abolish the licensing regime imposed on news websites in Egypt and replace it with a simple notification system. Such a system would be sufficient to establish legal responsibility, enable authorities to regulate obligations arising from the operation of online media outlets, and bring Egypt into compliance with its constitutional and international human rights obligations.
