Egypt arrests entire Matsadaash newsroom in major crackdown on independent media
Egyptian authorities have detained the entire editorial team of Matsadaash, one of the country’s few independent media outlets, accusing the six journalists of belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and producing fabricated news for foreign funding. The arrests have drawn strong criticism from international and regional rights groups, which called them an alarming escalation against independent media and freedom of expression.
The six journalists’ whereabouts remain unknown, according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, which said they have not been allowed to contact their families or legal team. Matsadaash co-founder Abdelrahman Mansour, who is outside Egypt, rejected the allegations, saying, "The claims are false."
Egypt’s Interior Ministry said on Thursday that Matsadaash was an unlicensed page run from abroad by a “fugitive Brotherhood member”, referring to Mansour. It said the six detainees were part of a Brotherhood “media committee” that prepared false and fabricated news for publication, and added that only one of them is a member of the Journalists’ Syndicate. The ministry said legal measures had been taken but did not specify the charges.
Mansour said the first arrest took place on Monday night, when authorities went to the home of Abdallah Qadry. The other five staff members were arrested on Tuesday, beginning with Mohamed Abu Emaira, who was taken from his home in the early hours. Mansour said Emaira’s library and internet router were destroyed during the arrest. Omar Helal was arrested in Port Said, Islam Barakat in Gharbia Governorate, and Mohamed Mahmoud and Mohamed Adel in Cairo. Mansour said all of them had their mobile phones and computers confiscated. He also said two of the outlet’s editors were arrested in 2023 and later released without charge after State Security investigators found no links to the Muslim Brotherhood. “It’s very difficult for us to understand why this is happening,” he said.
Founded eight years ago as a fact-checking platform, Matsadaash later expanded into investigative reporting in Egypt and other Arab countries. It was founded in 2018 as an online platform and has built a large following in Egypt, where independent media face heavy restrictions and state oversight of newspapers and television networks is widespread. Its website is blocked in Egypt, but its Facebook page has more than one million followers. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said this was the first time an entire newsroom had been arrested in Egypt, adding: “They have not been allowed to contact their families or legal team.” The group says 26 journalists are now in jail in Egypt, while the Committee to Protect Journalists counts Egypt among the world’s worst jailers of journalists.
More than 80 international and regional rights groups, civil society organisations and independent media outlets called on the Egyptian authorities to release the journalists. In a petition signed by groups including Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders, they said: “Matsadaash has operated openly for years and has built a reputation for credible and accurate reporting on a range of public interest issues across Egypt.” The petition added: “Egyptian authorities’ failure to allow free expression to thrive flies in the face of a purported commitment to dialogue, transparency, anti-corruption, and regional leadership.” Accusing critics of links to the Muslim Brotherhood has become common in Egypt since the group was designated a terrorist organisation in 2013 after the ousting of then-President Mohammed Morsi. The arrests of the Matsadaash team have intensified concern over the treatment of independent journalists in the country.
