Postponed: Mada Masr’s lawsuit for a license

A Wednesday court session was postponed for completion at a later date in a lawsuit in which Mada Masr is challenging the state media regulatory body’s rejection of our application for a license.

The State Commissioners Authority at the State Council reserved Mada Masr’s lawsuit against the Supreme Media Regulatory Council’s decision to refuse to license our website on Wednesday, said lawyer Hassan al-Azhari, adding that the date of the court session that follows has not yet been set. 

On October 11, Mada Masr filed a lawsuit before the State Council, requesting a license to operate our website and challenging the SMRC’s rejection of our 2018 license application. The suit also demands compensation for material and moral damages incurred through the council’s failure to inform us of its rejection within the appropriate legal timeframe.

The State Council referred the suit to the State Commissioners Authority, and the first session was held on November 16. Mada Masr presented documentation to demonstrate that it had applied for a license, paid the licensing fees and addressed the SMRC multiple times, with no response received regarding our application — neither an acceptance letter nor a letter of rejection.

The State Commissioners Authority adjourned the hearing until December 7.

Azhari noted that the SMRC has not sent a representative to either of the two sessions in the case thus far, and that he has presented evidence of the SMRC’s refusal to acknowledge that he had notified them of the day’s session.

The lawyer also said that he had presented documentation to the State Commissioners Authority detailing the Public Prosecution’s September summons of three Mada Masr journalists and the chief editor, and documentation showing that he had requested an official copy of the case notes from the prosecution.

The September summons came after scores of complaints were submitted against us by the government-aligned Nation's Future Party, following Mada Masr’s publication of a news piece citing incidents of corruption monitored within the party and quoting sources as stating that particular party members were facing inquiry in relation to the incidents. 

During the September 7 questioning, the Public Prosecution directed charges of running a website without a license at Mada Masr Editor-in-Chief Lina Attalah. 

Mada Masr submitted all the required paperwork for a license and paid LE50,000 in fees in 2018 when the SMRC asked all Egypt-based websites to ensure they met the registration requirements laid out in the newly enacted media and journalism law.

No response came, despite the law’s stipulation that the SMRC must decide to accept or reject the license application within 90 days of receiving it and must notify the applicant so that if the latter is rejected, they can exercise their right to appeal the decision in court.

Mada Masr received no response from the SMRC despite inquiring several times about the status of our request. 

It was only during questioning on September 7 — when Attalah began to recount the process of Mada Masr’s application for a license — that the investigator produced a letter from the SMRC stating that it had denied Mada Masr’s application on January 3, 2021.

Azhari said that the session was postponed pending the State Commissioners Authority’s preparation and submission of a report. Another date for the session was not determined.