Mada Masr editor-in-chief released on bail after questioning for ‘false news,’ ‘running a website without a license’

Mada Masr Editor-in-Chief Lina Attalah was released on LE5,000 bail on Tuesday after the Cairo Appeals Prosecution questioned her on charges of “publishing false news” and “managing a website without a license,” said the website’s lawyer, Hassan al-Azhari.

The case, still pending further investigation, was opened by the prosecution last year on the basis of a complaint from the state’s media regulator about a report Mada Masr published regarding the potential displacement of Palestinians from Gaza into Egypt.

If prosecuted, Attalah could face a maximum fine of between LE1 million and LE3 million for establishing a website without a license, or a maximum prison sentence of a year for publishing false news.

Attalah was questioned for nearly two hours on Tuesday, in a session attended by Azhari, fellow lawyer Ragia Omran and lawyers from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms and the Journalists Syndicate. Mahmoud Kamel, a member of the syndicate’s council, also attended.

After Mada Masr published a report on the potential displacement of Palestinians in October 2023, the Supreme Media Regulatory Council (SMRC) summoned Attalah for a hearing, later submitting a report to the prosecution.

Attalah was due to be investigated accordingly by the prosecution in December, but the session was postponed indefinitely.

The session was rescheduled to last week, three days after the publication of a report on the role of businessman Ibrahim al-Argany in coordinating the movement of people and goods at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.

Attalah has faced charges of running a website without a license before, in a 2022 case also brought forward by the Cairo Appeals Prosecution, in which the SMRC’s rejection of Mada Masr’s license was presented as evidence.

Mada Masr has applied twice for a website license, once in 2018 then later in 2020. It received no response from the SMRC.

Mada Masr is currently taking legal action to challenge the SMRC’s rejection of its license application and is suing it for its failure to inform Mada Masr of the rejection.