Lina Attalah summoned for questioning by appeals prosecution

Editor-in-Chief Lina Attalah has been summoned to appear for questioning before the Cairo Appeals Prosecution on Wednesday on charges that Mada Masr could not confirm, according to the news organization’s lawyer Hassan al-Azhari.

According to Azhari, the prosecution did not communicate the summons to Attalah, instead asking the Journalists Syndicate to inform Attalah that she would be questioned tomorrow as part of Case 22/2023. 

The syndicate has requested the session be postponed, Khaled al-Balshy, the syndicate’s head, told Mada Masr. 

Without any clear communication on the prosecution’s charges, Azhari told Mada Masr that he is uncertain of the charges. The lawyer said that he expects the charges to include “running a website without a license” and “publishing false news that could harm national security,” charges that the Supreme Media Regulatory Council (SMRC) also leveled at Attalah at the end of October.

The SMRC summoned Attalah on October 29 for a hearing that ended without an official decision. Later on the same day, the council issued a decision to officially block Mada Masr’s website on Egyptian internet service providers for six months and to refer the case to the Public Prosecution for “practicing media activities without a license” and “publishing false news without checking its sources.”

Following the October hearing, Atallah confirmed that she and Mada Masr are committed to internationally recognized media codes of conduct and the strict professional standards followed by Mada Masr, and its editorial team’s belief in the public’s right to knowledge.

On October 15, the SMRC announced a decision to investigate Mada Masr and to notify the Public Prosecutor if violations were proven, “after the Council received numerous complaints accusing the site of publishing inflammatory reports to harm Egyptian national security.”

In the  decision to summon Attalah, the council pointed to a Mada Masr report outlining  potential scenarios of the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, within the context of Israel’s ongoing aggression on the strip.