Egypt: Mada Masr ordered to close and editor-in-chief Lina Attalah taken from court

Lina Attalah, editor-in-chief of Mada Masr, Egypt's leading independent media outlet, was taken into custody on October 27, 2026, following a single hearing at the New Cairo Misdemeanor Court. The court fined her 3 million Egyptian pounds, approximately 53,000 dollars, and ordered the website to be shut down, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Africanews.

The charge cited was operating a news website "without a license" in case number 9072/2026. According to Mada Masr, as cited by Africanews, security agents surrounded her, lifted her off the ground, and carried her out of the courtroom. Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, who was present, stated that the judge delivered the verdict amidst protests from defense lawyers.

Eight days between summons and conviction

The proceedings were swift. According to HRW, Lina Attalah was summoned on October 19, 2026, interrogated on October 21 by the Supreme State Security Prosecution, released on 100,000 pounds bail, sent to trial on October 22, and convicted on the 27th. The 2018 Egyptian law on press regulation requires a license from the Supreme Council for Media Regulation. Mada Masr states it applied for one in 2018 and again in 2020, without ever being notified of a rejection, and submitted a new application in 2023 that remains unanswered. The site has been blocked in Egypt since May 2017.

The sixth case in six years

This is the sixth legal proceeding opened against Mada Masr or its journalists in six years, according to the editorial team, but the first to result in a trial. In late September 2026, the six journalists from the investigative team of the fact-checking platform Matsda2sh were arrested and placed in pre-trial detention for "belonging to and funding a terrorist group"; some claim, through their lawyers, to have been tortured and forced to confess. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported 25 journalists imprisoned in Egypt as of early October 2026.

More than one hundred civil society organizations had called for the charges to be dropped before the hearing. "No journalist should face criminal prosecution for doing their job," said Bassam Khawaja, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at HRW, who denounced the misuse of registration requirements.

The case also involves the continent: HRW points out that Egypt is obligated to guarantee freedom of expression under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. Egyptian authorities did not immediately comment on the journalist's detention.