Egyptian court postpones retrial of independent news site’s editor

CAIRO, Nov 11 (Reuters) – An Egyptian court on Wednesday postponed until November 18 a retrial of the editor-in-chief of Mada Masr, a prominent independent news site, on charges of publishing false news and running an unlicensed website, the site said.

Human rights groups see the Mada Masr case as a litmus test of whether independent journalism can survive in Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country.

Mada Masr said Lina Attalah’s defence submitted a request on Wednesday to change the judge, as he had ruled against her in a previous trial on October 27. The judge postponed the case for a week until the Court of Appeals decides on the change.

In his ruling last month, the judge fined Attalah 3 million Egyptian pounds ($56,200) and ordered the closure of Mada Masr after a single hearing on a separate charge that the site had operated without a licence.    

Mada Masr, along with some other independent websites, says it has sought a licence under a 2018 media law that introduced the requirement but has received no formal decision.

Attalah’s lawyers said last month that the court had rejected their requests during the session to review the case file and to submit additional evidence and had instead appointed a lawyer for her against her objections.

Egypt’s Supreme Judicial Council later rejected suggestions that the trial was unfair.

An appeal against the October 27 ruling is due to be heard on November 25.

In the retrial case, Attalah was sentenced in absentia in 2024 to a year in prison. She only learned of that sentence on October 27, while she was being released after the ruling that shuttered her news site.

Egyptian authorities have not responded to Reuters requests for comment on the Mada Masr case or wider issues of press freedom. They have repeatedly said the state is committed to freedom of expression but that media must operate within the law and respect national security.

(Editing by Gareth Jones)