Human Rights Council, Journalists Syndicate coordinate over crisis facing news websites
Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat, deputy head of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), told Al Manassa that the council is in contact with several authorities over recent developments affecting the press, including the court ruling against Mada Masr and the arrest of journalists from fact-checking platform Matsadaash.
NCHR and the Journalists Syndicate held a joint meeting on Wednesday to discuss press freedoms, focusing on news websites whose licensing applications have remained unresolved for years, the situation of journalists held in pretrial detention, and legislation restricting journalistic work. The discussions also covered blocked news websites and the employment conditions of temporary journalists at state-owned newspapers.
The meeting came amid mounting criticism over restrictions on press freedom, following a court ruling ordering Mada Masr’s closure and fining its editor-in-chief, Lina Attalah, 3 million Egyptian pounds ($55,000) for allegedly operating without a license. The entire editorial team of fact-checking platform Matsadaash is also in detention without charge.
El-Sadat said NCHR had contacted several relevant institutions, including the Office of the Public Prosecutor, to discuss the recent developments and legislation affecting journalists. These include a freedom of information law, legislation to prevent imprisonment in publication and press-related cases, and the long-pending licensing applications submitted by news websites.
He added that NCHR was consulting with various parties to help blocked websites resume operations, provided they had submitted the required paperwork and met licensing conditions, without imposing additional restrictions or obstacles on their work.
El-Sadat said he raised the issue of news websites awaiting licenses during a meeting with Khaled Abdel Aziz, head of the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, on Monday. Abdel Aziz, he added, was receptive to the issue.
He noted that Al Manassa was among the websites discussed, describing it as a prominent outlet that had applied for a license but had yet to receive a decision.
The licensing deadlock has persisted alongside the blocking of news websites. In March 2024, the Journalists Syndicate criticized the continued blocking of several news websites, particularly Al Manassa, which has been blocked 13 times, most recently in July 2022. Restrictions have since been lifted on some other outlets, including Darb, Soulta4, Zat Masr and Masr 360.
Mada Masr has sought a license under the Press and Media Regulation Law. It applied to the Supreme Council for Media Regulation in 2018 but received no response. After the law’s executive regulations were issued in 2020, the outlet submitted another application, which also went unanswered.
El-Sadat said the meeting also agreed to form a joint working group comprising representatives of the Journalists Syndicate, NCHR and the Supreme Council for Media Regulation to develop solutions to the main problems facing journalists and the press.
Licensing procedures
Journalists Syndicate head Khaled Elbalshy told Al Manassa that the licensing crisis facing news websites and ways to resolve it were among the main issues discussed at the meeting with NCHR.
He said the syndicate called for fair and transparent procedures for reviewing licensing applications, including notifying websites when additional paperwork or documents were required and ensuring compliance with legal provisions requiring applicants to be informed of the status of their applications.
Elbalshy said the syndicate had proposed establishing a dedicated office to receive licensing applications and supporting documents, alongside a mechanism for regular communication among the relevant parties to help resolve outstanding licensing issues.
The meeting also addressed website blocking, Elbalshy said. The syndicate delegation, which included board members Eman Ouf and Mohamed Saad Abdel Hafeez, stressed that administrative blocking threatens journalists and comes at a cost to the state. He cited the government’s media development committee, which has said that “restricted media cannot build a future.”
Elbalshy said the delegation also called for members of the syndicate’s board to be allowed to visit detained journalists. The syndicate has submitted several requests for visits without receiving approval, most recently last week.
Beyond the immediate licensing and blocking issues, Elbalshy said the syndicate had called for an end to the current escalation and efforts to resolve outstanding problems. It plans to present its demands to the Ministry of State for Information and the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, seeking solutions that could be implemented gradually. He said the approaching first annual media conference, scheduled for December, made progress on these issues particularly important.
Journalists Syndicate deputy head Mohamed Saad Abdel Hafeez separately told Al Manassa that the meeting addressed the need to create a more open environment for journalism, freedom of opinion and expression, and differing viewpoints. He added that NCHR had pledged to contact the relevant authorities to work toward resolving these issues.
As part of the syndicate’s efforts to advance the licensing issue, its Freedoms Committee called on news websites that have applied for licenses to attend a meeting on Saturday, Nov. 7, to discuss obstacles to obtaining licenses and ways to ease the process. The committee said the aim was to ensure that transparent and fair rules are applied equally to all outlets seeking to regularize their legal status.
The syndicate said the meeting would provide an opportunity to coordinate efforts with the websites seeking licenses and develop clear, practical solutions to the outstanding obstacles.