Egypt: How Egypt's Laws Are Used to Choke Its Independent Press

What the report says

A Committee to Protect Journalists report distributed by AllAfrica says the conviction of Mada Masr editor-in-chief Lina Attalah underscores how Egyptian authorities use licensing rules, criminal penalties and website blocking against independent media. The piece says a New Cairo court ordered Mada Masr closed, fined Attalah 3 million Egyptian pounds and confiscated the outlet’s equipment after finding it operated an unlicensed website. Mada Masr says it has tried repeatedly to obtain a licence.

The report says Attalah later learned of a separate in absentia conviction from 2024 that carried a one-year prison sentence on accusations of spreading false news and running a website without a licence. Her defence has challenged that ruling, and CPJ said a review hearing was set for November 11, while an appeal in the newer case was due to be heard on November 25. Egypt’s Supreme Judicial Council disputed claims of procedural problems and said Attalah had waived appeal rights, which her legal team denies.

CPJ and several independent journalists quoted in the report argue that Egypt’s media law and cybercrime law give the state overlapping powers to deny licences and block sites, including outlets with large online followings. The article notes that Egypt’s constitution protects press freedom in principle, but that independent outlets such as Mada Masr, Al-Manassa and Zawia3 have faced registration problems, raids or blocks. The report says the broader significance is that licensing can be used not just to regulate media, but to determine who is allowed to publish at all.