Law and Democracy Support Foundation, together with 128 other human rights and press organizations, has signed a joint statement condemning the ruling issued by the New Cairo Misdemeanor Court, which fined Lina Attalah, editor-in-chief of the news website Mada Masr, EGP 3 million, ordered the site closed, and confiscated its devices and equipment, on charges of operating a website without a license.
The statement stressed that the verdict is a new link in an escalating campaign targeting independent media in Egypt, and that the trial involved grave violations of the defendant’s right to a fair trial, including barring journalists from attending parts of the hearing, denying the defense sufficient time to review the case file, and preventing it from submitting documents and hearing witnesses.
The signatories called on the Egyptian authorities to grant licenses to independent media outlets without discrimination and allow them to operate freely, to end the campaign of intimidation against journalists, media outlets, and the Journalists’ Syndicate, and to immediately and unconditionally release the 25 journalists currently detained in Egypt.
Read the full joint statement:
