The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) condemns the continued  targeting by security agencies and judicial authorities of the independent news website Mada Masr. Lina Attalah, Mada’s editor-in-chief, was summoned  for investigation in a new case before the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP), bringing the number of criminal cases filed against the site and its journalists over the past five years to five cases—two of which are being prosecuted by the State Security Prosecution specialised in counter-terrorism.

On Saturday,  August 2nd, Lina received a summons to appear before the SSSP for questioning on Monday,  August 4th, in the new case—No. 6182/2025. As usual, neither EIPR lawyers nor other members of the defence team were able to identify the complainant or the charges brought against her. However, the summons came two days after the website published a report on complaints by inmates at Badr 3 Prison about their conditions of detention and rights violations. The report included a leaked letter from former Deputy Governor of Alexandria, Hassan El-Brens, regarding those abuses. The next day, the Ministry of Interior issued a statement declaring the letter “false” and announcing it will be taking “legal action against those spreading it.”

The Egyptian Initiative stated that the only real charge against Mada Masr is its continued practice of journalism, despite years of illegal blocking of the website, ongoing criminal prosecution, and arbitrary arrests of its journalists.

In 2020, security forces arrested Lina while she was conducting an interview near the Tora Prison Complex. She was later released by the Maadi Prosecution on bail, after being accused of filming a facility without a permit. In 2022, the Public Prosecution investigated her and three other journalists from Mada Masr on charges of “spreading false news likely to disturb public peace and harm the public interest,” before releasing them on bail after they published a news article about alleged corruption within the ‘Nation’s Future (Mostaqbal Watan) Party.’ In 2024, the Appellate Prosecution released Lina on bail again, this time in response to a complaint filed by the Supreme Council for Media Regulation against the site for publishing a report discussing scenarios for the foced displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Later the same year, security forces arrested site journalist Rana Mamdouh as she was heading to conduct an investigative report in Ras El-Hekma, Marsa Matrouh. She was referred to the Supreme State Security Prosecution in an unprecedented escalation against the independent news site, before being released on bail. All of these cases remain under investigation, and the editor-in-chief and her colleagues still face the risk of imprisonment.

It is noteworthy that the Egyptian government has nominated a candidate to represent Egypt in this year’s elections for the position of Director-General of UNESCO, the United Nations agency responsible, among other things, for defending press freedom.