Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah detained after court orders news site's closure

The editor-in-chief of the independent Egyptian news outlet Mada Masr has been taken into custody after a court convicted her of managing an unlicensed website and ordered its closure, her lawyers say.

Lina Attalah will be held until she pays the fine of 3m Egyptian pounds ($53,500; £40,100) also handed down by the New Cairo Misdemeanours Court. It was the maximum possible penalty for the charge, which she had rejected.

The human rights group Amnesty International said the verdict represented "a crushing blow to press freedom".

It comes only weeks after six journalists working for the independent fact-checking platform Matsda2sh were charged with belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt is among the top jailers of journalists globally, with 25 currently behind bars, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has overseen what human rights groups say is an unprecedented crackdown on dissent since he led the military's overthrow of his predecessor, Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsi, in 2013.

Tens of thousands of people have been detained, mainly Brotherhood officials and supporters but also leading secular and liberal activists, media workers and academics.

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The CPJ said Mada Masr, which was founded in 2013, was a vital source of critical reporting in Egypt and that it had long faced pressure from authorities over its journalism.

The site had repeatedly sought an operating licence from the Supreme Media Regulatory Council (SMRC) since a new media law was passed in 2018, but that its applications were either rejected or left unanswered, the media watchdog added.

Amnesty International said Lina Attalah had also faced "years of harassment and intimidation", including six criminal investigations over Mada Masr's reporting.

Last week, prosecutors summoned her for questioning over allegations of publishing "false news" and operating a website without a licence.

Mada Masr's lawyer said the investigation included a recent report that the website had published about a wave of protests in prisons across the country, as well as a letter from the SMRC regarding its legal status.

Attalah was released on bail and later referred to trial before the New Cairo Misdemeanours Court on the charge of operating a website without a licence.

During Tuesday's hearing, Judge Mohammed Mubarak ordered the courtroom to be cleared of everyone except Attalah, her eight-person defence team, and Hossam Bahgat, head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), an independent human rights group.

Bahgat told AFP news agency that security personnel then filed in before the judge announced that the court was denying several procedural requests made by the defence and appointing its own lawyer for Attalah.

"In a move that astonished all those present, the judge recorded in the official court minutes that the court had appointed a lawyer from the Lawyers' Syndicate to represent the defence," he said. "Lina herself spoke up to object to this lawyer being appointed to represent her, which the judge refused to record in the court minutes.

"In an even more shocking turn, the judge proceeded to dictate motions on behalf of this lawyer - who had not uttered a single word - and entered them into the official record," he added.

The judge then announced the fine for Attalah and ordered Mada Masr's closure "amid shouts and protests from the defence", before she was detained, according to Bahgat.

Amnesty International warned that the court's verdict marked "a dark day for independent journalism" in Egypt and demanded that it be overturned.

"This draconian ruling is the culmination of years of relentless harassment and unjust proceedings designed to shut down one of the country's last remaining independent media voices," said the group's senior director for regional impact, Yasmine Ahmed.

"Lina Attalah should never have been prosecuted for exercising her right to freedom of expression and doing her journalistic job."

CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah said: "If Egypt can put in custody one of its most respected editors and shut down her newsroom, no independent journalist in the country is safe. Attalah must be released immediately, and Mada Masr must be allowed to keep reporting."