Retrial of Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah adjourned amid criticism of media crackdown

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Retrial of Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah adjourned amid criticism of media crackdown Submitted by MEE staff on Wed, 11/11/2026 - 10:13 Mada Masr editor’s lawyers say judge has…

An Egyptian court on Wednesday adjourned the retrial of Mada Masr editor-in-chief Lina Attalah until 18 November to consider a defence request for the judge’s removal, the independent news outlet said.

Attalah faces charges of publishing false news and operating a website without a licence in a case in which she was sentenced to a year in prison in her absence in 2024.

Mada Masr’s lawyer, Hassan al-Azhari, said the defence would submit its grounds for seeking the judge’s removal ahead of the next hearing, arguing that he had “already formed a view against the defendant”.

The presiding judge, Mohamed Mubarak, also issued a ruling on 27 October in a separate case fining Attalah three million Egyptian pounds (about $56,000) and ordering Mada Masr’s closure.

The proceedings come amid a wider crackdown on independent media, including the detention in September of all six journalists working for fact-checking outlet Matsadaash.

Mada Masr said Attalah received a summons in the latest licensing case on 19 October, hours after it joined seven other independent Arab media outlets in a joint newsroom initiative intended to fill the gap left by the Matsadaash arrests.

In its statement on Wednesday, Mada Masr said the case being heard dates back to questioning by the Cairo Appeals Prosecution in November 2023, following a complaint by the Supreme Council for Media Regulation.

The complaint concerned a report published after the outbreak of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023.

Prosecutors questioned Attalah again in February 2024 after Mada Masr published another report on Sinai businessman Ibrahim al-Organi’s role in coordinating the movement of people and goods through the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, the outlet said.

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