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A criminal court in Cairo adjourned the opening hearing in the retrial of Lina Attalah on Wednesday after her defence team requested a new judge, Mada Masr reported. The judge in the case had previously convicted Attalah in a related matter last month. The retrial relates to charges of publishing false news and operating an unlicensed news website.
Attalah, who serves as editor-in-chief of the independent outlet Mada Masr, learned of a one-year prison sentence issued against her in absentia in 2024 only after the October proceedings, according to Reuters. That earlier ruling also included a two million Egyptian pound fine and an order to close the website. Her legal team challenged the verdict, leading to the current retrial process.
In the October case, a court fined Attalah three million Egyptian pounds, equivalent to about $56,000, and ordered the shutdown of Mada Masr along with confiscation of its equipment, the news site said in a statement. Attalah was held for five hours before the fine was paid and she was released. The outlet has faced a blocking order inside Egypt since 2017 despite multiple attempts to secure a license.
The United Nations warned of widening assaults on press freedom by Egyptian authorities on the eve of the hearing. “We are witnessing widening assaults on press freedom by Egyptian authorities, including the targeting, persecution and harassment of independent journalists,” spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said. He called for an end to all forms of harassment of journalists and for the release of six detained reporters from the Matsadaash fact-checking platform who had reportedly been tortured.
Egypt ranks 169th out of 180 in the Reporters Without Borders 2026 World Press Freedom Index, an assessment that highlights severe constraints on media operations. The Committee to Protect Journalists has reported that 25 journalists are currently behind bars in the country. A joint appeal by 119 rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, described the proceedings against Attalah as an unprecedented attack on press freedom.
Lina Attalah has said Egypt is “trying to limit the already-limited space” for independent media. The developments form part of a series of legal actions against Mada Masr and its staff over the past six years. Analysts from the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy have called the situation uncharted territory in terms of escalations against independent voices.
