Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah faces retrial amid criticism of press crackdown
The Mada Masr chief faces possible imprisonment as the UN and rights organisations challenge Egypt’s prosecution of independent journalists.
By Larissa Bell ·
Lina Attalah, who leads Egypt’s independent news outlet Mada Masr, is due before a criminal court on Wednesday, November 11, for a retrial on charges of running a news website without a licence and publishing false news. The proceedings could send her to prison and have prompted international criticism of Egypt’s treatment of independent media.
The case follows a one-year prison sentence imposed in her absence in 2024, without her knowledge. Attalah learned of that ruling only last month, when she was released from detention following a rushed misdemeanour trial involving similar allegations in a separate case. That court fined her three million Egyptian pounds, approximately $56,000, and ordered Mada Masr to close.
On Tuesday, the United Nations condemned an expanding assault on press freedom in Egypt, citing the targeting, prosecution and harassment of independent journalists. Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Attalah’s prosecution raised renewed concerns about due process and a fair trial. Allegations of publishing false news are frequently used against journalists and dissidents in Egypt.
Mada Masr is Egypt’s leading independent media outlet and has continued operating through more than a decade of pressure on the free press. The Egyptian authorities have faced longstanding criticism over their human rights record, while nearly all room for dissent has been closed off during the past decade.
Speaking to AFP before the retrial, Attalah said the authorities were seeking to further reduce the limited space available to independent journalism, leaving silence in its place. She said Mada Masr had repeatedly sought a licence over eight years, with applications left unanswered for years. Her objection, she explained, was to licensing being used to control and exclude media outlets.
The proceedings come amid a broader crackdown that Amnesty International and other rights organisations have described as unprecedented. In September, authorities arrested all six journalists working in the newsroom of the factchecking platform Matsadaash. They remain in pretrial detention, which has been extended several times.
According to the UN’s rights commissioner, the detained journalists have reportedly suffered torture and been compelled to record fabricated confessions. The commissioner called for their release. Criticism of the crackdown has also come from US lawmakers, the European Union and 135 rights groups and media organisations, including Human Rights Watch and the Committee to Protect Journalists.
CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah urged Egyptian authorities to stop the crackdown, overturn the closure order against Mada Masr and respect constitutional safeguards for press freedom. She also called on the European Union to make those demands part of its political dialogue with Egypt.
