The Egyptian court fined the journalist Lina Atala and closed the Mada Maser independent store A criminal court in Cairo today sentenced the editor-in-chief of Mada Maser, Lina Atala, to a maximum fine of 53,400 dollars, and ordered the immediate closure of the news site and the confiscation of his property. According to an announcement published by Da Maser, security officials took Atala into custody inside the court following the verdict on the charge of operating advertising without a license. Defense attorneys reported that the chairman denied all requests to submit documentation or call witnesses, while arbitrarily appointing an unknown public defender while refusing to register formal objections in the official court record. The sudden conviction follows years of state administrative harassment against Mada Messer, considered one of Egypt's last remaining independent newsrooms. Outlet representatives confirmed that Mada Messer has submitted repeated licensing applications to the Supreme Council for Communications Regulation since 2018, but the Egyptian authorities routinely ignored the submissions while enforcing regulatory blocks. Human rights organizations and advocates of freedom of the press condemned the trial as political obstruction aimed at shutting down investigative reports throughout the country. The arrest of Atallah and the legal elimination of Mada Messer mark a sharp escalation in Cairo's broader campaign against critical media outlets, in the coming weeks after state authorities raided alternative newsrooms and arrested dozens of journalists on alleged national security charges.

The Egyptian court fined the journalist Lina Atala and closed the Mada Maser independent store A criminal court in Cairo today sentenced the editor-in-chief of Mada Maser, Lina Atala, to a maximum fine of 53,400 dollars, and ordered the immediate closure of the news site and the confiscation of his property. According to an announcement published by Da Maser, security officials took Atala into custody inside the court following the verdict on the charge of operating advertising without a license. Defense attorneys reported that the chairman denied all requests to submit documentation or call witnesses, while arbitrarily appointing an unknown public defender while refusing to register formal objections in the official court record. The sudden conviction follows years of state administrative harassment against Mada Messer, considered one of Egypt's last remaining independent newsrooms. Outlet representatives confirmed that Mada Messer has submitted repeated licensing applications to the Supreme Council for Communications Regulation since 2018, but the Egyptian authorities routinely ignored the submissions while enforcing regulatory blocks. Human rights organizations and advocates of freedom of the press condemned the trial as political obstruction aimed at shutting down investigative reports throughout the country. The arrest of Atallah and the legal elimination of Mada Messer mark a sharp escalation in Cairo's broader campaign against critical media outlets, in the coming weeks after state authorities raided alternative newsrooms and arrested dozens of journalists on alleged national security charges.