UN rights office says Egypt detains entire Matsadash newsroom
Six reporters from the fact-checking site remain held and their lawyers allege torture, while Mada Masr editor Lina Attalah faces a court hearing this week.
The UN human rights office said on Tuesday that six journalists who make up the entire newsroom of the Egyptian fact-checking website Matsadash remain in detention, and that it is tracking a widening pattern of action against independent media in the country.
Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the UN human rights chief, told reporters in Geneva that the office was witnessing "widening assaults on press freedom by Egyptian authorities, including the targeting, persecution and harassment of independent journalists". He said the developments "must end immediately" and that journalists should be able to work "free from intimidation and reprisals".
The detained reporters are Mohamed Ashraf Abu Emeira, Abdallah Qadry, Islam Barakat, Omar Helal, Mohamed Mahmoud and Mohamed Adel. According to their lawyers, cited by the UN office, they were tortured and otherwise ill-treated and forced to record fabricated confessions.
Al-Kheetan said Lina Attalah, chief editor of the independent online news outlet Mada Masr, also faces continuing judicial harassment tied to her journalism. Last month an Egyptian court convicted her of operating an unlicensed website; she was detained and then released after paying a fine, and the court ordered the site closed. This week she faces another hearing in a separate case dating back to 2024, which the UN office said raises concerns over legal due process and the right to a fair trial, including obstacles to appeal.
The rights office called on Egypt to release all the Matsadash reporters and drop charges arising from their work. Until then, it said, they must have confidential access to lawyers, contact with their families, necessary healthcare and medication, and humane conditions of detention. It asked that all allegations of torture, ill-treatment or forced confessions be promptly investigated and those responsible held to account, and that the measures against both Matsadash and Mada Masr be overturned.
"The people of Egypt have a right to read and hear views expressed through these fora on issues of legitimate public concern," Al-Kheetan said.
Attalah told the news agency AFP, in an interview published days before her court appearance, that the prosecutions were an attempt to "silence" the last surviving vestiges of the free press in Egypt. Africanews quoted her saying: "We are left with silence."
Alessandra Vellucci, director of the UN Information Service in Geneva, referred reporters to the UN Secretary-General's message marking the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists on 2 November.
None of the reports carried comment from the Egyptian government or from the prosecutors handling the cases.
How the reports differ
UN News carried the fullest account of the Geneva briefing, naming all six detained Matsadash journalists and quoting the OHCHR spokesperson at length, while Reuters led its headline on the rights office's alarm without adding detail beyond the statement. OHCHR's own release ran under the heading "Egypt: Assaults on press freedom must end". Africanews and Bangkok Post both carried the same AFP interview with Lina Attalah and each led on a different phrase from it: Africanews chose her remark "We are left with silence", Bangkok Post chose "silenced" and the prospect of jail time. No report carried a response from the Egyptian government.
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