The Egyptian security forces arrested the editor-in-chief of the Mada Messer website, Lina Atallah, and ordered the website to be closed and its equipment confiscated, in the latest campaign of intimidation against independent journalism. The New Cairo Court fined Atallah three million Egyptian pounds (about $53,000), on the charge of running a news site without a license, despite repeated attempts by the site to obtain an official license since 2018.

The Egyptian security forces arrested the editor-in-chief of the Mada Messer website, Lina Atallah, and ordered the website to be closed and its equipment confiscated, in the latest campaign of intimidation against independent journalism. The New Cairo Court fined Atallah three million Egyptian pounds (about $53,000), on the charge of running a news site without a license, despite repeated attempts by the site to obtain an official license since 2018.