The criminal court in Cairo has delayed the retrial of Lina Attalah, the editor‑in‑chief of the independent news outlet Mada Masr, until 18 November. The postponement came after Attalah’s defence team requested a new judge for the case.
Attalah, who co‑founded Mada Masr 13 years ago, has long been a prominent voice in Egypt’s limited independent media landscape. The outlet, which has been a rare source of investigative reporting on corruption, human rights abuses, and regional conflicts, was forced to shut down in 2023 after a court fined the site 3 million Egyptian pounds ($56,000) and ordered it to cease operations for lacking a licence.
In 2024, a separate Cairo court convicted Attalah in absentia for “spreading false news” and operating an unlicensed website, sentencing her to one year in prison. The conviction was issued while she was still in Egypt, a fact she has repeatedly highlighted as a procedural injustice.
Attalah’s case has attracted international attention. The United Nations has warned that Egyptian authorities are intensifying assaults on press freedom, targeting, persecuting, and harassing independent journalists. In a BBC interview, Attalah described the crackdown as a “chilling message” aimed at the few remaining newsrooms, urging caution among journalists who “should be scared” and “wondering if they are next.”
Despite the hostile environment, Attalah maintains that Mada Masr’s rigorous reporting serves a vital public interest. “If we disappear, conspiracies and disinformation will fill the void,” she said. “People need to know, and you shoot yourself in the foot if you kill the newsrooms that do it properly.”
Egypt ranks 169th out of 180 countries for press freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders’ 2026 analysis. At least 26 journalists arrested in recent years remain in detention, underscoring the precarious state of media freedom in the country.
Source: BBC World
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Editorial note: This is an original news report prepared from the attributed source material with AI assistance. It is not a reproduction or translation of the original article.
