Crimeupdated 51m ago2 min read
Archive photo · 20 April 2024Egypt Fines Lina Attalah, Shuts Mada Masr, Confiscates Equipment in New Cairo Court
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Cairo court fined Lina Attalah 3 million EGP and ordered Mada Masr's closure. Equipment confiscated from Mada Masr as part of the closure and asset seizure.
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Lina Attalah detained
Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah was arrested on Tuesday, October 27, in Cairo after a Court in New Cairo fined her three million Egyptian pounds, ordered the shutdown of Mada Masr, and confiscated its equipment. ActuaLitté said the Court sentenced Attalah for operating an information site without a license, and it said she was released a few hours later while she remained pursued by Egyptian justice.
Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), described the arrest as happening “in the middle of the cries and protests of the defense lawyers,” according to the account cited by ActuaLitté. The International Commission of Jurists said the conviction and closure order came on 27 October 2026 and called for the conviction to be quashed and the shutdown order to be lifted.
Fines, shutdown, and bail
A Cairo court ordered the closure of Mada Masr’s website and imposed a fine of 3 million Egyptian pounds, and Lina Attalah was released after the fine was paid, according to The Guardian.
Hassan al-Azhari told AFP that “Lina Attalah was released after we paid the said fine,” and he said she had been sentenced in absentia in 2024 to a year in prison and a fine of 20,000 Egyptian pounds.
The Supreme State Security Prosecution issued a summons to Attalah to appear for interrogation on 21 October in Case No. 9072 of 2026, and it released Attalah on conditional bail of EGP 100,000.
The International Commission of Jurists also said the trial judge reportedly denied Attalah’s defence team’s requests for adequate time to examine the case file and access the evidence, and it said the proceedings lasted only eight days from interrogation to verdict.
Press freedom stakes
Human rights groups and press freedom organizations condemned the ruling as an escalation against independent media, with Democracy for the Arab World Now saying the organizations warned of an “escalating crackdown on independent journalism in Egypt.” The International Press Institute said it joined more than a hundred organisations in raising alarm over the conviction and a court order compelling the closure of Mada Masr, and it called on Egyptian authorities to allow Mada Masr to operate freely.
The closure of Mada Masr, ordered just after the arbitrary detention of the entire editorial team of Matsda2sh, gave rise to “grave concern that Egypt is intent on annihilating independent online media platforms.” The prosecution, trial, conviction and sentence were marred by serious violations of the right to a fair trial, including the right to adequate time and facilities for the preparation of a defence.