Egyptian Court Convicts Mada Masr Editor and Orders Website Shut

A Cairo court has convicted Lina Attalah, editor-in-chief of the news outlet Mada Masr, of running its website without a licence, and has ordered the site shut down. The conviction was handed down on October 27, 2026, according to Reuters.

Attalah was detained for several hours after the verdict, the Guardian reported. She was released after Mada Masr paid a fine of 3 million Egyptian pounds, the country's currency. NBC News put the fine at about $53,400.

Mada Masr was founded in 2013 by Attalah. The outlet says it applied for an operating licence, the official permission needed to run a business of this kind, three years ago and has received no reply from Egyptian authorities. The court's case against Attalah centres on the lack of that licence.

This is not the first criminal case against her. In 2024, she was sentenced in absentia, meaning while not present in court, to one year in prison and a fine of 20,000 Egyptian pounds, the Guardian reported.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and partner organisations condemned the shutdown of Mada Masr and expressed support for Attalah. CPJ has called for her immediate release and has demanded that Mada Masr be allowed to continue its journalistic work.

A new court hearing in Attalah's case is scheduled for November 11.