Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah, head of independent news outlet Mada Masr, faces a criminal court retrial Wednesday over charges of operating without a licence and publishing false news. The UN criticised Egypt’s “widening assaults on press freedom” Tuesday. Attalah was previously handed a one-year prison sentence in absentia in 2024.
Prominent Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah, the head of independent media outlet Mada Masr, is set to appear in a criminal court on Wednesday, facing possible prison time in a trial that has drawn international outcry.
Attalah is being retried after she was handed a one-year prison sentence in absentia in 2024, without her knowledge, for operating a news website without a licence and "publishing false news" -- a charge commonly levelled against journalists and dissidents in Egypt.
The United Nations on Tuesday criticised what it called Egypt's "widening assaults on press freedom", including the "targeting, prosecution and harassment of independent journalists".
Atallah was only informed of the in absentia sentence last month, upon her release from detention after a rushed misdemeanour trial in a separate case with similar charges where she was fined three million Egyptian pounds (around $56,000).
Attalah's prosecution "raises fresh concerns regarding due process and fair trial", said the spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Thameen Al-Kheetan.
