Egyptian court postpones retrial of journalist Lina Attalah as UN condemns press freedom crackdown

A Cairo criminal court has adjourned the retrial of prominent Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah, whose case has sparked international condemnation.

The opening hearing on Wednesday was postponed until 18 November after defence lawyers for Mada Masr’s editor‑in‑chief requested a new judge.

The United Nations has warned of a widening assault on press freedom by Egyptian authorities, including targeting, persecution and harassment of independent journalists.

In a BBC interview, Attalah said the recent crackdown was intended to send a chilling message to the few remaining newsrooms.

She warned, “Everyone should be careful, everyone should be scared, and everyone should wonder if they are next.”

Founded 13 years ago, Mada Masr became Egypt’s leading independent news website, with Attalah as its editor‑in‑chief and co‑founder.

Last month a New Cairo misdemeanours court convicted her of operating a website without a licence—a permit she said she had tried for years to obtain in vain. She was fined 3 million Egyptian pounds (≈ $56,000/£42,000) and Mada Masr was ordered to close.

Following that trial, Attalah discovered that a court had previously sentenced her in absentia to one year in prison for ‘spreading false news’—a charge frequently used against journalists and dissidents—and for operating a website without a licence. The 2024 ruling was issued even though she was in the country at the time, and she is now being retried on the same charges by the same judge.

During the opening session, Attalah’s defence team asked for the judge’s recusal, arguing that he had ‘already formed a conviction in mind against the defendant’, according to Mada Masr’s lawyer Hassan al‑Azhar. The judge then went into recess before adjourning proceedings for a week to consider the request.

Mada Masr also reported that Attalah’s appeal against last month’s conviction is scheduled for 25 November.

Egypt has largely stifled press freedom, ranking 169th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ 2026 press‑freedom index. The group says at least 26 journalists arrested in recent years remain in detention.

While most newspapers and television stations now toe the government line, Mada Masr has remained a rare independent, investigative news outlet in Egypt. Since 2017, however, the site has been accessible only from outside the country.

The site has reported on alleged corruption and human‑rights abuses and provided in‑depth coverage of politics, economics and regional conflicts, including the wars in Libya, Sudan and Gaza.

In a BBC interview on Sunday, Attalah stressed that Mada Masr’s factual reporting and professional standards play a crucial role in Egyptian society and could benefit the government.

“It’s much better if you leave a little space for professional media organisations that do rigorous reporting, because if we disappear, you make room for conspiracies and disinformation,” she said.

“People need to know and to consume information; you’re shooting yourself in the foot if you kill the newsrooms that do it properly,” she added.

In September, six journalists from the independent fact‑checking platform Matsda2sh—its entire newsroom—were arrested in home raids by Egyptian authorities and held incommunicado for nearly a week.

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