Mada Masr: closure order and two separate legal proceedings
· BehindLines newsroom
On 27 October, the New Cairo Misdemeanours Court ordered independent outlet Mada Masr to close and fined its editor, Lina Attalah, three million Egyptian pounds. BBC and Al Jazeera reports describe a conviction for running an unlicensed website. According to the outlet, she was released a few hours later, after the fine was paid.
Payment does not settle the closure question
Her release concerns the custody that followed this hearing. It does not, by itself, establish that the order against the website was lifted. Al Jazeera also reports that the court ordered equipment to be confiscated; its account does not establish when any seizure actually took place.
The dispute concerns permission to operate. Mada Masr says it has repeatedly applied for a licence since 2018. According to Al Jazeera, an administrative court in 2023 upheld the regulator's refusal, citing a lack of proof that the trademark was registered. The outlet's lawyer disputes that reason and says the certificate was supplied. The same report says a new application has remained pending since June 2023. There had been no immediate official comment on the verdict, according to Al Jazeera.
A separate sentence reported during release
Both media accounts describe another development, attributing it to Mada Masr: while completing the release formalities, Lina Attalah reportedly learned of a one-year prison sentence handed down in her absence in 2024. Her lawyers challenged it, with a retrial hearing announced for 11 November in this separate case.
That sentence should therefore not be described as a year in prison imposed at the 27 October hearing. The announced date of 11 November refers to a future procedural step and says nothing about its outcome.
According to Al Jazeera, journalists' union president Khaled el-Balshy said his organisation intended to appeal the 27 October verdict. This announcement establishes neither that an appeal was filed nor that the closure order was suspended.
Amnesty International is calling for the verdict to be overturned and criticises its implications for the press. Its position is not a court ruling. Readers should follow what happens to the closure order and to the separate case, keeping payment of the fine, release from custody and the end of proceedings distinct.