Cairo (AFP) - Lina Atallah, editor-in-chief of the Mada Masr website, one of the few independent news platforms, warned in an interview with Agence France-Presse of additional restrictions on the “already limited space for independent media” in the country, days before her appearance in court, which could result in her imprisonment.

Published on: 08/11/2026 - 21:01

Last month, the authorities in Egypt fined Atallah three million pounds (more than 55,000 US dollars), closed the “Mada Masr” website, and confiscated its property, two weeks after arresting the entire editorial team of the “Mtsadeqesh” platform for verifying news and verifying information.

“It is not possible to separate the two incidents,” Atallah told Agence France-Presse, which she described as “a new chapter in the attempt to limit the already limited space for independent media.”

She considered that while the country faces economic and political challenges, some officials believe that the solution lies in silencing independent media, “but the solution is to allow a margin for people to engage with events, ask questions, and obtain information.”

Egypt, which is drowning in debt, is facing more economic pressure with the decline in the value of the local currency at a time when the date of repaying more than two billion dollars to the International Monetary Fund is approaching.

Cairo is subject to local and international criticism regarding restrictions on freedom of the press and expression. Non-governmental organizations say that the Egyptian authorities are detaining 26 journalists on charges of spreading false news or joining terrorist groups.

On Saturday, Amnesty International described “the attack on the Mada Masr website and the Metsadeqesh platform” as “a dark chapter in the history of freedom of expression in Egypt.”

"I felt my heart contracting"

In mid-October, Atallah appeared for the sixth time before the Supreme State Security Prosecution in six years. She was then referred for the first time before the court, which issued its ruling after the first session.

After a quick trial in which the court rejected all the defense requests and appointed a lawyer for Atallah, who quickly rejected him, the journalist said that the ruling was issued “while the security forces were taking me to the place of detention in the court,” where she spent more than seven hours without knowing anything. She added, “I panicked at that moment and I was very afraid.”

She said that she learned of the ruling only after her colleagues paid the fine, in which Mada Masr readers and supporters participated. When she signed “the release order that indicated the fine and the closure of the site, I felt my heart contract.”

She added, "I signed the paper, and with the stroke of a pen, the existence of a media institution that provided a lot ended."

Meanwhile, Atallah learned that she was also facing a one-year prison sentence in absentia and a fine of two million pounds, issued in 2024 on charges of spreading false news and running a website without a license.

The first session of her retrial in the 2024 case begins on Wednesday, while the court considers Atallah’s appeal of the ruling issued last month on November 25.

“We are not against legalizing our status,” Atallah said, explaining that her organization had submitted three applications to obtain a license, all of which were met with rejection or silence.

She stressed, "Our problem is that licensing turns into a tool for control and exclusion."

The Mada Masr website, which has been blocked by the Egyptian authorities for nine years, was launched in 2013. The website publishes temporary links that bypass the block and are constantly updated. It also shares most of its content on social media sites to ensure access to readers.

135 human rights and media organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, described the Mada Masr rulings as an “unprecedented attack.”

Atallah commented, "I hope that the prison sentence will be abolished. Journalists should not go to prison. I should not be imprisoned and 'don't believe it' journalists should not be imprisoned."

From newsrooms to the courts

Atallah considered her place and the place of her colleagues to be “the newsroom, not to spend our days in the courts,” noting that her team of 50 journalists and employees cannot return to work normally before the end of the legal procedures.

She added, "I miss my work," which I started with a small team two years after the January 25 revolution that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.

She pointed out that she began this work based on her feeling that “there are profound changes in Egypt, and that we are heading towards something new and different that had to be documented.”

But with time, “this space became deserted,” it lacked independent media, and “there was no longer anyone to convey the truth about the events taking place.”

Mada Masr is considered one of the few independent journalistic outlets in the most populous and crisis-ridden Arab country. From the war in Gaza in the east to the war in Sudan in the south to the division in Libya in the west.

Atallah noted that there is significant regional and international investment in Egypt as one of the few stability hotspots in the region, hence the importance of “ensuring a margin of civil and political rights, as this is part of the calculations for this stability.”

She added, "The belief that stability can only be achieved by investing in power and the fait accompli... is a wrong bet."

© 2026 AFP

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