UN calls for release of Matsadaash journalists as Egypt renews their pretrial detention
Egypt’s Supreme State Security Prosecution on Tuesday renewed the pretrial detention of six journalists from independent fact-checking platform Matsadaash for another 15 days, the third renewal in a case involving charges of joining and financing a terrorist group, publishing false news and using a social media account to promote it.
The journalists are being held in Case No. 8083 of 2026, (Supreme State Security Prosecution). Their continued detention comes amid growing international concern over the targeting of independent journalists in Egypt. The UN Human Rights Office has called for their immediate and unconditional release.
Human rights lawyer Nabeh Elganadi, a member of the six journalists’ defense team, told Al Manassa that Tuesday’s detention renewal hearing was held by videolink. The hearing lasted longer than usual to give lawyers sufficient time to present their requests and legal arguments and have them formally recorded.
The defense team included lawyers from his organization, Tbian for Rights and Freedoms, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) and a representative of the Journalists Syndicate.
Elganadi said the six journalists appeared to be in good health during the video hearing. However, one again raised concerns about conditions in the cell he shares with four colleagues at Badr 1 Prison, particularly that its windows remain open despite the cold weather. The journalists were told the problem would be addressed, he said.
He added that, before the judge, the journalists and their lawyers reiterated their request for release. They expressed dismay that the six remained in pretrial detention despite having committed no crime warranting their imprisonment.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Elganadi also stressed that no genuine judicial investigation had been conducted into the journalists’ allegations of torture and enforced disappearance during previous interrogations.
He argued that referring the journalists to the Forensic Medicine Authority neither confirms nor rules out their allegations and cannot replace a serious investigation that summons, questions and holds accountable the officers accused of the violations. No such steps have been taken, he said.
Security forces arrested six members of the Matsadaash editorial team on Sept. 28 and 29, holding them incommunicado for five days before bringing them before the Supreme State Security Prosecution, which ordered their pretrial detention.
The Public Prosecution had previously said that forensic reports found no injuries or signs of violence against the Matsadaash journalists who alleged they had been abused. The statement responsed to complaints filed by three journalists during questioning, in which they described various forms of torture and mistreatment, including being restrained with their hands behind their backs, blindfolded throughout interrogations, beaten, stripped, electrocuted and threatened with harm to themselves or their families.
Elganadi said the defense team’s request for the journalists’ release was also based on the absence of any seized items or physical evidence supporting the charges. The prosecution had not identified a single published report it considered false or presented evidence that any report was untrue. Nor had it provided material evidence of membership in a terrorist group or substantiated the allegation of financing terrorism, whether by receiving or providing funds, he said.
He stressed before the court that the investigation had focused on the journalists’ personal information and professional backgrounds rather than the alleged offenses. The case, he said, rests solely on a report by the National Security Sector, with no supporting evidence.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Tuesday called on Egyptian authorities to immediately halt what it described as an alarming escalation in attacks on press freedom and the targeting, prosecution and harassment of independent journalists. It called for the immediate and unconditional release of all six Matsadaash journalists and an end to the ongoing legal proceedings against Mada Masr editor-in-chief Lina Attalah.
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said in a statement that Egyptian authorities should allow journalists to carry out their vital work freely, without intimidation or reprisals.
The statement focused in particular on the detention of all six members of the Matsadaash editorial team, a platform specializing in fact-checking and verification. The detained journalists are Mohamed Ashraf Abu Emeira, Abdallah Qadri, Islam Barakat, Omar Hilal, Mohamed Mahmoud and Mohamed Adel.
The statement also cited allegations by the journalists’ lawyers that their clients had been tortured, subjected to other forms of mistreatment and forced to record fabricated confessions.
The UN office called on Egyptian authorities to drop the charges against the six journalists, which it said stemmed from their legitimate exercise of their professional duties, and release them immediately. It also called for urgent, independent investigations into all allegations of torture and coerced confessions, with those responsible held accountable.
The office further urged authorities to safeguard the journalists’ fundamental rights until their release, including the right to communicate confidentially with their lawyers, access their families and receive health care, as well as the right to humane detention conditions.
“The steps taken to suppress the continued work of both Matsadash and Mada Masr must be overturned. The people of Egypt have a right to read and hear views expressed through these fora on issues of legitimate public concern,” the statement said.
Egypt ranked 169th out of 180 countries in the 2026 Press Freedom Index. 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.