Prominent journalist Rasha Qandeel was released Sunday evening on bail of 50,000Egyptian pounds (approximately $1,000) following an eight-hour interrogation at the Supreme State Security Prosecution in Cairo, according to her lawyer Khaled Ali.
“We have just concluded the interrogation of Dr. Rasha Qandeel before the Supreme State Security Prosecution,” Ali said in a Facebook post. “The Prosecution heard her testimony in Case No. 4196 of 2025 (State Security docket), during which she was confronted with 31 complaints filed against her over the past week by citizens from various governorates and professions. The complaints were similar in phrasing and targeted the same set of investigative reports.”
The prosecution also presented Qandeel with a number of her published works, including a report titled “Egypt on the Brink of Explosion”, and accused her of “spreading false information, statements, and rumors inside and outside Egypt.” According to Ali, the prosecution cited National Security Agency investigations attributing the alleged offense to her journalistic activity.
Speaking to Al Manassa, Ali added that his client “denied all charges” and emphasized that she had written a series of investigative reports—not opinion pieces—based on academic, journalistic, and research tools, and completely free from personal bias. He said she underscored the neutrality and professionalism of her work during the interrogation.
In the hours leading up to the interrogation, activist Ahmed Douma—who was among those present in solidarity—said that representatives from the British, Canadian, and European Union embassies arrived to support journalist Rasha Qandeel. They waited for several hours outside the State Security Prosecution premises before leaving around 3 pm, prior to the end of the session.
Last Thursday, the Supreme State Security Prosecution summoned Qandeel for questioning, setting the session for Sunday as part of investigations into Case No. 4169 of 2025, according to her lawyer Khaled Ali. In a Facebook post, Ali stated that his client had received an official letter at her residence, summoning her to appear at the designated time. “Dr. Rasha Qandeel will be present at the Prosecution Office on that day, accompanied by our legal team,” the post read. Qandeel commented on the letter by calling it “the most honorable letter I’ve ever received.”
In recent days, Qandeel has come under attack over three investigative reports published on the Sotour platform under the headline “The Egyptian Arsenal.” The stories were titled: “Who Is Egypt Buying All This Weaponry From?”, “The Concept of Deterrence!”, and “The Arms Dealers.”
“These three investigations were deliberate, and I stand by every word in them. I will not back down,” Qandeel said in a video on Facebook. She also denounced what she described as an orchestrated campaign to discredit her by mobilizing hundreds of thousands of social media users to attack her calling it a “petty security campaign”.
Responding to accusations of “insulting the military,” Qandeel said, “I have never insulted the army in any of my reports. My 25 years of journalistic work are available on my YouTube channel and Facebook page.” She emphasized the distinction between “the honorable ideological Egyptian army—of which my father and grandfather were part—and the military leadership that has been politically exploited since the Maspero massacre.”
“The Egyptian army should not be selling cheese, olives, or sardines,” explaining that to her, the army is “the one that fights on the front lines—the one that half of my family comes from,” she added.
Since her husband, opposition politician Ahmed Tantawy, was sentenced to a year in prison with hard labor over unauthorized election campaign documents in the case known as “Popular Mandates”, Qandeel has consistently spoken out. “We demand justice, not a presidential pardon. Neither Ahmed nor I have ever asked for one.” She said at a press conference at the Karama Party headquarters. She noted that her husband’s final wish, in case of further charges, was: “Even if something worse happens, don’t ask for a medical pardon.”
On Saturday, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms condemned the summoning of Qandeel, calling on authorities to stop targeting journalists and politicians with legal proceedings and to uphold constitutional guarantees of free expression.
Egypt ranked 170th out of 180 countries in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a drop from its 2023 ranking of 166. RSF continues to categorize Egypt as “very dangerous” for journalists, marking it in dark red on its press freedom map.
The RSF report described Egypt as one of the world’s largest jailers of journalists and a country far removed from the hopes of the 2011 revolution. It criticized Egypt’s lack of media pluralism, noting that the state owns the top three national newspapers—Al-Akhbar, Al-Ahram, and Al-Gomhouria—while independent outlets suffer under censorship and legal threats. Radio and television, the report added, have become mouthpieces for political propaganda.
RSF further reported that censorship, raids, media shutdowns, arbitrary arrests, fabricated charges, enforced disappearances, and smear campaigns have become commonplace in the daily lives of Egyptian journalists. Many are subjected to surveillance, and journalists are now required to obtain special permits to enter areas like Sinai and the Suez Canal.
According to a May 2025 report by the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, more than 23 journalists—both unionized and non-unionized—remain in pretrial detention. Among them is cartoonist Ashraf Omar of Al Manassa and journalist Ahmed Serag, who was arrested after interviewing Omar’s wife, Nada Mougheeth, about her husband’s arrest at their home.
Egypt’s Constitution, Article 70, guarantees freedom of the press across all media—print, visual, audio, and digital.
