The CPJ said Mada Masr, which was based in 2013, was a important supply of essential reporting in Egypt and that it had lengthy confronted stress from authorities over its journalism.

The web site had repeatedly sought an working licence from the Supreme Media Regulatory Council (SMRC) since a new media regulation was handed in 2018, but that its purposes were either rejected or left unanswered, the media watchdog added.

Amnesty International said Lina Attalah had also confronted “years of harassment and intimidation”, including six prison investigations over Mada Masr’s reporting.

Last week, prosecutors summoned her for questioning over allegations of publishing “false news” and working a web site with out a licence.

Mada Masr’s lawyer said the investigation included a current report that the web site had revealed about a wave of protests in prisons across the nation, as effectively as a letter from the SMRC regarding its authorized standing.

Attalah was launched on bail and later referred to trial before the New Cairo Misdemeanours Court on the cost of working a web site with out a licence.

During Tuesday’s listening to, Judge Mohammed Mubarak ordered the courtroom to be cleared of everyone except Attalah, her eight-person defence staff, and Hossam Bahgat, head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), an impartial human rights group.

Bahgat instructed AFP information company that safety personnel then filed in before the choose announced that the courtroom was denying several procedural requests made by the defence and appointing its own lawyer for Attalah.

“In a move that astonished all those present, the judge recorded in the official court minutes that the court had appointed a lawyer from the Lawyers’ Syndicate to represent the defence,” he said. “Lina herself spoke up to object to this lawyer being appointed to represent her, which the judge refused to record in the court minutes.

“In an even more stunning flip, the choose proceeded to dictate motions on behalf of this lawyer – who had not uttered a single phrase – and entered them into the official report,” he added.

The judge then announced the fine for Attalah and ordered Mada Masr’s closure “amid shouts and protests from the defence”, before she was detained, according to Bahgat.

On Tuesday evening, Mada Masr said it had paid the full fine to the court and that Attalah was released after several hours in custody.

“During the launch procedures, Attalah realized of a one-year jail sentence issued against her in absentia in 2024, on prices of publishing false information and managing an unlicensed web site,” it added.

“Her attorneys took steps to problem the ruling, with a listening to in a retrial of the case scheduled for 11 November.”

Amnesty International warned that the court’s verdict marked “a darkish day for impartial journalism” in Egypt and demanded that it be overturned.

“This draconian ruling is the fruits of years of relentless harassment and unjust proceedings designed to shut down one of the nation’s last remaining impartial media voices,” said the group’s senior director for regional impact, Yasmine Ahmed.

“Lina Attalah should never have been prosecuted for exercising her proper to freedom of expression and doing her journalistic job.”

CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah said: “If Egypt can put in custody one of its most revered editors and shut down her newsroom, no impartial journalist in the nation is secure. Attalah must be launched instantly, and Mada Masr must be allowed to hold reporting.”