Court orders Mada Masr closed, fines Attalah EGP 3M, detains her pending payment

A Cairo misdemeanor court on Tuesday fined Mada Masr Editor-in-Chief Lina Attalah 3 million Egyptian pounds ($54,000), ordered the website shut down and its equipment confiscated, and ordered Attalah detained pending payment of the fine. The ruling came in a case accusing her of “establishing and operating a website without a license.”

Hassan Al-Azhari, the website’s lawyer, told Al Manassa that an appeal would suspend enforcement of the ruling, provided the full fine is paid at which point the defense team will beg. The defense team will begin appeal proceedings once the fine has been paid.

Al-Azhari said the court rejected the defense team’s requests to postpone the hearing, submit documents or call witnesses. After the defense objected, the court appointed another lawyer, a move Attalah rejected. The judge refused to record her objection in the hearing minutes before issuing the ruling.

Mada Masr quoted Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights Executive (EIPR) Director Hossam Bahgat, who attended the hearing, as saying the presiding judge began recording the court-appointed lawyer’s requests himself, before the lawyer had spoken. The judge then began reading the guilty verdict as members of the defense team shouted their objections.

Bahgat said that immediately after Attalah received the maximum penalty, security personnel surrounded her, lifted her off the floor and carried her out of the courtroom. 

She remained in detention at the time of publication, pending payment of the fine. The court had agreed to accept half the amount that day and allow the remainder to be paid in installments.

Al-Azhari previously told Mada Masr that the penalty for the charges against Attalah ranges from 1 million to 3 million pounds ($18,000 to $54,000). Article 105 of the Press and Media Regulation Law also allows courts to order the closure of a website and confiscate equipment used in the alleged offense, with fines doubled in cases of repeat violations.

At the start of the hearing, the presiding judge refused the defense team’s request for a postponement to review the case file and prepare its arguments, lawyers Nabeh Elganadi and Nada Mosaad told Al Manassa. 

The judge adjourned the hearing and scheduled it to resume later that day, saying the case was simple and did not require additional preparation because it concerned only the operation of an unlicensed website.

Court security also barred several journalists and supporters of Attalah from entering, including Egyptian Journalists Syndicate member Eman Ouf. 

She said in a Facebook post that she had been prevented from attending. Other journalists said security personnel asked them to hand over their syndicate membership cards so they could obtain permission from the presiding judge to enter.

The presiding judge also barred representatives of the European Union and diplomats from Germany, France, Austria, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, and Sweden, in addition to envoys from Norway, Switzerland, Britain, and Canada, insisting that only Attalah and her legal defense team could attend.

During the hearing, the judge confronted the Mada Masr editor-in-chief with the charges referred by the Supreme State Security Prosecution, asking her whether the website operated without a license. Attalah replied that she had submitted a license application but received no response.

Mosaad said the defense had requested access to Mada Masr’s licensing application filed with the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, the original decision rejecting the application, and an original document dated Oct. 12, 2022, which the council claims Attalah signed to acknowledge receipt of the rejection.

The requests also sought the original copy of a document dated Oct. 12, 2022, rejecting the license, which the media council claims Attalah signed upon receipt.

According to the defense, counsel further demanded that the court hear testimony from relevant specialists at the Supreme Council for Media Regulation and attach all correspondence subsequent to the licensing request to the case file.

Last Thursday, the Supreme State Security Prosecution referred Attalah to the New Cairo Misdemeanor Court on charges of establishing and managing a website without a license. The referral came hours after prosecutors interrogated her and released her on bail of 100,000 pounds ($1,800) in Case No. 9072 of 2026 (Supreme State Security).