CAIRO, October 28 (Aalimi Nation) – A court in Cairo has ordered the closure of the independent news website Mada Masr and fined its editor-in-chief, Lina Attalah, 3 million Egyptian pounds, about $53,500, for running a website without a licence. The Mada Masr closure was announced after a hearing on Tuesday and is a first-instance ruling that can be appealed.
The ninth circuit of the New Cairo Misdemeanour Court also ordered Mada Masr's equipment and devices to be confiscated. Attalah was taken into custody after the verdict and released several hours later, after Mada Masr said she paid the fine in full.
The case was brought under Article 105 of Egypt's 2018 media regulation law. It provides for fines of 1 million to 3 million pounds for operating an unlicensed website, and allows a court to order closure and confiscation of equipment.
According to Mada Masr, the case moved quickly. Attalah was questioned by the Supreme State Security Prosecution on 21 October over running an unlicensed website and publishing false news, and was released on bail of 100,000 pounds. Investigators referred her to trial the next day, and Tuesday's hearing was the first in the case.
Mada Masr says it applied to the Supreme Council for Media Regulation for a licence in October 2018 and again in August 2020, and received no reply either time. The council told an administrative court in 2022 that the application lacked some required documents, according to the outlet's lawyer, Hassan al-Azhari. Mada Masr says it filed a complete application in June 2023 and is still awaiting a decision. The council had not commented publicly on the verdict by Tuesday afternoon, and there was no immediate official comment.
The outlet, founded in 2013, has been blocked inside Egypt since 2017. In its own statement it said the court refused its lawyers' requests to review the case file, submit further evidence and call witnesses, and that the judge appointed a defence lawyer for Attalah over her objection although eight of her own lawyers were present.
Khaled el-Balshy, head of the Journalists' Syndicate, said the union would take legal action to challenge the ruling. The syndicate has argued that a dispute over a licensing decision should go before the administrative courts rather than be handled as a criminal matter, and has called for the licensing rules to be reviewed.
Amnesty International's Yasmine Ahmed called the verdict "a crushing blow to press freedom in Egypt". Rights groups say this is the first case against the outlet to reach trial.
During her release procedures, Attalah learned that she had been sentenced in absentia in 2024 to one year in prison on charges linked to publishing false news and running an unlicensed website, according to Mada Masr. Her lawyers have challenged that sentence, and a retrial hearing is set for 11 November.
On the same day, the Supreme State Security Prosecution renewed the detention of six journalists from a fact-checking platform, Matsadaash, for a further 15 days.
The ruling can be appealed, and the Journalists' Syndicate has said it will take legal action. The 11 November retrial is the next court date in Attalah's separate case.
