Egyptian authorities detained Mada Masr editor-in-chief Lina Attalah on Wednesday, holding her in police custody for several hours before releasing her — one day after a court ordered her outlet shut down and hit her with a heavy fine, in what press freedom groups are calling the latest escalation of a yearslong legal siege against Egypt's last major independent news site.

Attalah was questioned on October 22 by Egypt's Supreme State Security Prosecution and referred to trial on a charge of running a website without a government license, according to Mada Masr's own reporting cited on Wikipedia. If convicted, she faced fines of roughly 1 million to 3 million Egyptian pounds — about $18,000 to $54,000. On October 27, a court ruled against her: it ordered Mada Masr closed and imposed the fine, a decision Reporters Without Borders called "outrageous."

A Licensing Fight That Never Ended

Mada Masr has sought an operating license from Egyptian authorities since 2018; its most recent application has been pending since 2023. In the meantime, the site has continued publishing, and hundreds of websites — Mada Masr included — remain blocked for ordinary readers inside Egypt.

Amnesty International, in an October 21 statement, said Attalah had also been summoned over a separate, new criminal case — the sixth politically motivated prosecution against her and her staff in six years, by the group's count, with investigations in five cases still open. "The Egyptian authorities are once again targeting Lina Atallah," said Yasmine Ahmed, Amnesty's senior director for regional impact, demanding Egypt "immediately end all judicial harassment against her and Mada Masr staff."

THE SIXTH CASE IN SIX YEARS

The pressure on Mada Masr has coincided with a broader crackdown: six journalists at the fact-checking outlet Matsadaash were arrested weeks earlier and remain in pretrial detention, and journalist Rasha Azab was hit with terrorism-related charges this month over a social media post criticizing the interior ministry. Journalists had staged a sit-in at Egypt's Journalists Syndicate in solidarity before suspending it on October 19. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said on the day of Attalah's summons that his government "listens, discusses, and accepts any criticism."

What Happens Next

Per Democracy Now's briefing, Attalah learned during Wednesday's detention of a 2024 in-absentia sentence against her and now faces a retrial within two weeks. Mada Masr has not announced whether it will appeal the closure order or continue publishing while it does.